


Love Shall Not

by huntersprey



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Biting, Blood Drinking, Bloodplay, M/M, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-04-23
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:33:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 67,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/370057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huntersprey/pseuds/huntersprey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘Though lovers be lost, love shall not’ – Dylan Thomas</p>
<p>Adam is a vampire, determined to get his revenge so he can finally move on with his life. When the perfect opportunity arises, he forms a plan and puts it into action. What he didn’t give much thought to was how the pawn in the plan could have the potential to change everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Don't own any characters that are real people, please don't sue or show any of the people this is about.

                                                                                  

 

 

Adam sat back in his chair, letting the voices wash over him and glancing at the clock on the wall before turning his eyes back to the flames in the fireplace. It was late in the afternoon and it looked like the meeting today was running over. He had stopped listening about halfway through, bored at the drama that didn’t really concern him. That is, until he heard he heard a familiar name that caused a jolt of anger to run through him.

He noticed Marcus look at him warily as he sat up straighter in his seat, turning his head in Anna’s direction. “What did you say again?”

She shook her head wearily, guessing that he hadn’t been listening, but repeated what she had said nonetheless. “We need to think of something to do about Drogen. From the reports we’ve been getting, it looks like he’s trying to build an army.”

Adam heard the tone of disapproval in her voice. Vampires generally didn’t like to have leaders. In fact, that was the whole reason for these meetings—to stop vampires from trying to gain power that they could use to lead others. It was common knowledge that in vampire history, the previous leaders had only ever misused their authority. And vampires learned from their mistakes.

Adam knew that the only reason Drogen would want to build an army would be to try to lead the vampire community. And from the mutters and shaking of heads from the rest of the vamps in the meeting, they had come to that conclusion, too.

“Now, Drogen might have many different powers, but he’s never been known for being able to use them effectively. Some would say that’s karma. However, since he’s acquired this... _shield_ power,” she paused, and Adam tried to ignore the glances at him. He smiled gratefully when Sharlene found his hand and held it in hers. Anna continued, “he’s almost unstoppable. That shield is one of the strongest there is, which is why he went for it, I imagine. He knew that he wouldn’t stand a chance against some of the strongest vampires even with all of his powers, so he went for something that could protect him all of the time. It looks like he isn’t putting that shield down any time soon. So, we need to think of a way of getting him to take it down. Without the shield, he would be easy to take down.”

“Surely we can think of a way of stopping him without having to kill him,” Marcus said, always searching for a way other than violence. Adam usually agreed with him, but right now he wanted to hit him. Drogen deserved a painful death. He was about to speak up, when Anna did it for him.

“I’m sorry Marcus, but this is the only way. You know that he wouldn’t give up his aim to lead and become the most powerful of our kind without a fight.”

Marcus sighed, but seemed to accept the answer. Anna was one of the oldest in the group and also one of the wisest. She told it like it was and Adam admired her for that.

He listened quietly to the suggestions put forward, each one of them turned down one by one. Adam knew that he needed to do this. It couldn’t be anyone else. This was his right. He had dreamed of all of the ways he could kill Drogen, and this was it. This was the perfect excuse to carry out his revenge.

He tried to think of something that could work. Obviously, this army he was building up was very important to him. They were one of the ways that he could intimidate others into letting him lead them. Adam briefly felt sorry for the vampires that were probably being lied to about why they were changed, but then he shrugged it off. They would most likely be as bad as him. He doubted that Drogen loved any of them like makers usually loved their sons or daughters, but without them, he wouldn’t have anyone to help him attack others. He had strength in numbers with his army, and even just taking one of them might make a difference in his plans.

He had it. He knew how he could destroy his enemy once and for all.

“Leave it to me,” he said, his voice ringing out loud and clear.

“What are you going to do?” Anna asked.

“I _will_ have to plan it further, but I think I know what to do. I’ll tell you when I have it all figured out.”

Anna frowned, and then sighed. “Well, we have nothing better that we can think of. I just hope whatever you’re thinking will work.”

Adam nodded. “I think it will.”

He ignored Marcus’s suspicious gaze. He knew that he’d want to talk to him later. Probably as soon as they got out of the meeting.

“What on earth can you do, Lambert?”

Adam turned to Morissey, surprised that he had been quiet all of this time. He always had something to say. “And what do you mean by that?” he asked politely. He wasn’t going to let Morissey get to him today, no matter how much he tried to heighten Adam’s irritation with that fucking annoying power of his. 

“Well, really, what can you do? Except for sniff out whatever he’s feeling,” Morissey said, and Adam wanted to yank on that damn mohawk of his.

“I can use my logic, Morissey, which I’m sensing you lack at the moment,” Adam countered, and he smiled as Sharlene giggled softly.

Morissey crossed his arms, annoyed, but it didn’t look as if he was going to stop any time soon. “Are you just going to believe he has a plan, even when he doesn’t tell us what it is?”

“He wouldn’t say he had a plan if he didn’t. Now, this isn’t a playground, boys. I won’t have this childish bickering anymore,” Anna interrupted.

“Well, I think that’s all, isn’t it? We’ll meet the same time next week,” Marcus said, standing up as everyone bustled about getting out.

Adam stood up, too, stretching his legs and nearly yelping when Sharlene bounced over to his side.

“Are you okay? I know this must have been a little hard for you.” she murmured.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m getting over it. You shouldn’t worry about me,” he replied. She looked deep into his eyes for a moment, almost as if she was searching for something before she nodded and flounced out of the room with a wave. He guessed that whatever she was looking for in his eyes she had found.

Before Adam could make his escape as well, he felt a hand grab his shoulder, holding him back. He turned to Marcus with a resigned sigh. He had to know that he couldn’t change his mind. He had been set on killing Drogen for a while now. Nothing was going to stop him.

“What?”

“I want you to think about this, Adam. Don’t rush into this,” Marcus said.

“I’m not rushing into it. You know how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

Marcus ran a hand through his hair and Adam kind of hated that he was the one who had given him that worried look. “This is dangerous. You could get killed!”

Adam shook his head. “I won’t. I have this under control. Just don’t worry.”

Marcus’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Don’t worry? Don’t worry?! I’m your _maker_ , it’s my duty to worry.”

Adam rolled his eyes, chuckling. “But there’s no reason to. Besides, the vampire community needs me to do this. We can’t have him make us bow down to him.”

“Oh, so this is only about saving our community from him, is it? It’s not about anything else?”

Adam frowned. “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you.”

“Adam, I know why you’re doing this! Do you really think this is gonna help you get over everything? Do you really think _killing_ will make you feel better?”

“He’s a monster, Marcus! He doesn’t deserve to live after what he’s done!” Adam shouted.

“You’re not a killer, Adam.”

“I don’t have to listen to this. I can do what I want,” Adam growled, pushing past him to get out.

“I just want what’s best for you. This isn’t the right thing,” Marcus said from behind him.

Adam stopped at the door, glancing back at him before stalking out.


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

                                                                                      

Three weeks later, they had a plan figured out and were ready to put it into action.

Adam was surrounded by a crowd of vampires, all of whom had a specific job that they needed to do. At his signal, they all scurried off, some in the direction of a car waiting beside them and others towards the side gate of the building they were in front of.

He grabbed the arm of Sharlene before she could go in the side gate with the others.

“Be careful,” he said quietly into her ear, and she laughed.

“I’ll be fine, Adam! Go and do what you need to do,” she replied before skipping off to catch up with the others.

Adam had talked to Anna already about not letting Sharlene help with his plan. It was dangerous and she was like a little sister to him. He wouldn’t know what to do if anything happened to her. But Anna had convinced him that they needed as many vampires with the hypnotist power as possible for their plan to succeed.

Adam knew that she was right; hypnotising only lasted for about a minute before it wore off. If there were not enough vampires who could hypnotise there, the guards would be that much harder to get past.

He turned on his heel and headed towards the front gates of the building, stopping in front of the head guard that was waiting there.

“I’m here to see Drogen about a matter threatening his desired position in power,” Adam told him, watching as the guard frowned at him curiously before flicking on a switch at his headset. Adam heard him speak quietly into the mouth of the earpiece for a few moments, relaying back the information that Adam had told him.

When he was done, he gave Adam a curt nod and pressed a button that opened the wrought iron gates in front of them.

“Drogen will be waiting for you in his office,” he said.

Adam acknowledged his comment with a nod and strode through the gates. As he walked up the long driveway to the front door, he felt a seed of doubt make itself known in his mind. He couldn’t help but think of Marcus’s warnings again. This was dangerous. If Drogen knew who he was, he would know that he wasn’t here to tell him any useful information and would most likely get his many guards on him.

Pushing open the front doors, he snorted to himself. All of these guards, the huge home. Drogen really did think of himself as higher up than anyone else. Thinking of that brought him back to what he wanted from this. It didn’t matter if it was dangerous, he needed to do this, to rid the earth of this evil man once and for all. He couldn’t move on without this final act of revenge.

His footsteps echoed loudly through the huge halls as he followed the directions on the walls to Drogen’s office. It almost sounded like each step was counting down the seconds until he would be face to face with the man who had made his life hell.

He breathed deeply, trying to calm himself before he got there. He didn’t want to lose control. He couldn’t afford to. This had to work out right. It had to go according to plan.

As he rounded the corner to the office, he fixed a smile upon his face, hoping that it would look somewhat genuine. The smile remained as he knocked on the door politely, even as his insides seethed with the rage that came every time he thought of Drogen.

“Come in,” a voice called from the other side of the door, and Adam closed his eyes briefly in an effort to stop himself from bursting in there and killing the bastard. Then, he opened the door and stepped inside.

The first thing he saw was the figure sitting at the desk. He had his hands clasped together in front of him and was looking up at Adam with what could only be known as a smug smile. Obviously, Drogen was thinking he was getting information about the people who were plotting against him, and as much as Adam wished he could wipe that smirk off his face, he felt a smugness of his own that Drogen was being tricked so easily.

“Sit down,” Drogen said softly, gesturing to the seat across from him.

Adam took a seat, watching Drogen as he waited for him to speak. His shocking white hair matched the moustache and beard he had, and his eyes were almost the same shade of blue as Adam’s. Adam couldn’t see it, but he knew that the shield was up. His teeth clenched together as he thought about Drogen using what never should have been his right in front of him.

“So, you came to inform me of something that could threaten my rise to power?” Drogen asked, his voice silky soft. It reminded Adam of a snake.

“Yes. There seems to be a group of our kind planning some kind of attack to stop you gaining any power.”

Drogen pursed his lips and stroked the end of his beard thoughtfully. “Why did you feel the need to tell me of this? Most vampires would let them get on with it, or indeed, even join them.”

“I’m not most vampires. I don’t agree with the commonly accepted rule that there should be no leader for our kind. And if there was a leader, I’d rather it be you than someone who has conflicting beliefs to my own,” Adam lied. He wondered why he was speaking so formally, and decided that he just didn’t want to let Drogen have any clue to the real reason he was here. One slipup could ruin everything.

Drogen cocked his head to the side. “Really? What beliefs do you share with me?”

Adam knew that Drogen was trying to trick him out in case he was lying. But he also knew enough about Drogen’s attitude towards most things to pull it off convincingly. “Your attitudes towards humans for one. I’m quite ashamed that the majority of our kind has some sort of fondness towards much weaker beings.”

Drogen grinned, and Adam knew that he had won him over. “Ah, yes. That is something that is puzzling to me. Humans are nothing more than food. They have no strengths, no worth to us except to sustain our hunger and to create others of our kind. Very puzzling, indeed.”

Adam felt another burst of anger towards the man sitting in front of him. It disgusted him how Drogen could think of a life as worth nothing. He hated the man the more he heard him speak. He glanced at his watch, hoping that Sharlene and the others wouldn’t be much longer. He could only drag this conversation on for so long.

“Do you know any more about these people’s plans?” Drogen asked.

Adam cleared his throat quietly. “Not much. I only know that they plan to kill if you continue with the army you’re setting up. That is what you’re doing, right?”

“My creations?”

Adam nodded. Makers usually had a special bond with the vampire they had created and called them their son or daughter. Drogen calling them his creations just made him more confident that he didn’t feel anything for them. They were just pawns in his game. But he still needed them.

“Yes, that is what I’m doing. No vampire will want to challenge me when I’ve trained them up to their full potential. Of course, some of them haven’t acquired their powers yet, but I’m willing to wait until they’re at their very best,” Drogen rasped.

“That’s very wise,” Adam replied, just hoping that Drogen prized his creations enough for the plan to work. He was desperately trying to think of something else to say when his phone buzzed. It was the signal that the others had done what they had to do.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he pushed his chair back and stood up, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket until he found the letter he was looking for. He looked Drogen in the eyes and placed the sealed envelope in front of him.

“This will explain why I was really here. You may not know me, Drogen, but I know you very well. And I hope to see you very soon.”

With that, he turned and made his way out of the door, quickening his step as he walked through the long halls. He knew that most of the guards would be knocked out, but he didn’t want to linger just in case. He walked out of the building to see one of the other vampires in their group hypnotising the head guard outside before proceeding to hit him over the head and knock him out. She reached over and pressed the button to open the front gates.

Adam smiled gratefully at her and walked through them, following her to the car where Sharlene and the other hypnotists were packed inside with a young man sitting beside them. Morissey sat at the steering wheel, wanting to be a part of at least one some of the plan. He started the engine when everyone was in and started driving away from Drogen’s place.

 “How did it go?” Adam asked when he got in.

“Fine. We had a little trouble with one guard who had some resistance to the hypnotism, but we managed to knock him out regardless. What about you?” Sharlene answered.

“I managed to keep him distracted long enough. Wanted to rip him apart the whole time, but I had it under control. He’s probably reading the letter right around now. Is that one of the men he turned for his army?” he gestured to the man sitting with them. His eyes were closed and his head was resting against the window, a flop of blonde hair covering his face from view. A bag was sat beside him, and Adam assumed it was stuffed with any of his clothes they had managed to find.

“Yep. He’s the first one we saw. We managed to knock him out before he even saw us, so he’s probably gonna be really confused when he wakes up.”

“Isn’t he pretty?” Morrisey interrupted, glancing back at the unconscious man.

“Keep your eyes on the road. That’s the one thing you’ve got to do, at least do it right,” Adam retorted.

Morissey turned away, looking at the road pointedly. “Okay, okay. But seriously, the things I’d like to do to him...”

Adam rolled his eyes. Of course, Morissey would be thinking about sex. He made his own vampires so he could use them as his personal sex toys. He sniffed the air cautiously, groaning at the heavy smell.

“Ugh, the smell of lust is so strong,” he complained.

Morissey chuckled. “Stop sniffing out my feelings if you don’t like what you smell.”

“It’s hardly something that I can control when it’s that strong a smell. Trust me, if I could, I would.”

“Maybe we should stop with the bickering and concentrate on getting home,” Sharlene suggested, and they quietened down in response.

The rest of the ride went by in silence. Morissey dropped the vampires off at their respective house until it was only Adam left in the car with him. Well, and the man who they had kidnapped. Adam didn’t like the sound of that word, but he guessed that it was essentially what they had done.

He wondered how the man would react. He was obviously going to be very loyal to his maker, and probably just as much of an asshole. Adam didn’t know what his power was yet, but he hoped that it wasn’t anything that he couldn’t protect himself against if he got violent.

They had decided that they would keep the man at Adam’s house for as long as it took until Drogen gave in to the desire for a complete army. Adam just hoped it wouldn’t take too long. He didn’t want to keep a man in his house who shared the same view points as Drogen for too long.

But he hoped that if he kept on reminding himself of why he was doing this, he would pull through until the end. It was going to be so, so worth it.

When Morissey pulled up outside his house, he got out and helped Adam pick the man up and get him inside. Adam was kind of surprised that he was helping him, but he didn’t say anything. They carried him into the guest room and lay him on the bed. Morissey followed Adam downstairs to the front door.

Adam shoved his hands in his pockets, uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “Thanks for...helping just now. You didn’t have to.”

Morissey grinned, clapping him on the back and walking back to the car. “Oh, I wasn’t doing it for you. I managed to cop a feel while we were carrying him,” he called over his shoulder.

Adam rolled his eyes for the second time that night, shutting the door and making his way to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

 

Adam woke the next day to commotion. He jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, finding the man they had taken from Drogen there, banging on the front door. When he noticed Adam, he backed away slowly.

“Who are you? Why am I here?” he asked frantically, his eyes searching for anyplace he could escape.

“I’m not going to hurt you. If it wasn’t for your maker, you wouldn’t be here.”

“Let me out. Now,” the man hissed, though his eyes were still wide with fear.

Adam shook his head.”I can’t.”

“That’s not a good enough answer!”

“I don’t care if it’s not good enough. You’re not getting anything else out of me. It isn’t my fault that you’re here,” Adam said.

The man laughed bitterly. “So, you’re not the one who kidnapped me and took me here?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly carry out the kidnapping and I didn’t drive the car that brought you here, so technically...”

The man lunged forward, pressing Adam against the wall. “Don’t get smart with me. If it isn’t your fault, then whose is it?”

Adam prised the man’s hands off of him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I’ve already told you this. It is your makers fault.”

“And how is it?” the man’s eyes flashed with anger, and Adam remembered the bond he was sure to have with his maker. Even if he did only make him for his own selfish reasons.

“He’s not a good man. You wouldn’t understand. You’re blinded by his lies.”

“He wouldn’t lie to me! He tells us everything!” the man yelled.

Adam pursed his lips. “Believe what you want, but Drogen is evil to the bone.”

“And taking someone from their own home against their will isn’t bad?!”

Adam chuckled. “What he has done is much worse than kidnapping someone. Do you really believe he’s a good man?”

The man had seemed to have lost some of his fear. He must have been convinced that if Adam had wanted to hurt him, he would have done so by now. The way his hands balled up into fists showed that he was restraining some of his anger, though.

“I know that he’s a good man. I’ve lived with him for two years. Don’t you think I would have known if he was evil by now?” the man questioned.

“Some people are good liars. You can never catch them out if you tried. But what you see is a different person from what everyone else sees. He shows you a side of him that isn’t really there. It’s fake, to get you to trust him. And you do. All of you do, and so willingly,” Adam said wearily.

“I know him better than you do. How do you know that this ‘fake’ side of him isn’t the side you’re seeing? And the real Drogen is good?”

Adam sighed. He knew that trying to talk sense into the man was going to do no good. He was brainwashed by the old fool. But he couldn’t help trying. Living with a person on Drogen’s side was going to be hell. “Because I know, okay?”

The man flipped his bangs out of his eyes, staring up at Adam. “You’re going to let me go.”

Adam crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not.”

“Listen, let me go and I won’t tell him who kidnapped me,” the man said with a hint of hope in his voice.

“He already knows. I have a plan to go by, and I’m sticking to it.”

“And I’m part of this plan?”

Adam nodded. “You’re a big part of it.”

The man was silent for a few moments. Then, he spoke again. “Why me?”

“It didn’t necessarily need to be you. Just someone that Drogen had turned into a vampire. It just so happened that you were the first one we saw,” Adam answered.

“This...plan. It’s to do with hurting Drogen, isn’t it?”

Adam hesitated. He didn’t want to tell the man too much, but he could probably tell from his face that it was the truth. “Yeah,” he said.

The man shook his head stiffly. “You’re not going to hurt him. I won’t let you.”

“And what exactly are you going to do to stop it?” Adam asked. He watched as the man paused, unable to answer. Only vampires could hurt or kill other vampires, but Adam had been a vampire for longer than the man before him. He was stronger, and the man must have sensed that. If it came down to a fight between them, Adam would win. Unless the vamp had a special power that could hurt Adam, that is.

“Exactly. You can’t do anything. So, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”

“I can’t just sit here and let you hurt Drogen! I can’t do nothing!” the man’s voice grew louder.

“Look, standing here arguing about this is not gonna do anything. You might not even be here that long,” Adam said.

The man turned and tried pulling at the door again, and Adam watched him try for a few minutes before pulling him back. “It’s not going to work, you know. It’s sealed. Magically. I know people.”

The man wrenched himself from Adam’s hold on him and slumped against the wall. “I have no way of getting out.”

“No. I’m sorry, okay? But I have to do this. I know how you must feel...”

“No, you don’t! You know, when Drogen gets his hands on you, I hope he kills you,” the man snapped before going back up the stairs.

Adam knew that it was going to be difficult. He just wished he had prepared himself better for this part of the plan. He decided that he wouldn’t even have to be around the man too often. He’d try and go out as much as possible to avoid any time with him.

But then he remembered. What if he did get out? The whole plan would be ruined. He was pretty confident about the magic seals on the doors, but that didn’t mean that it was completely fool proof. He was sure there was some way to get around it.

He’d have to keep an eye on him. He’d have to stay in and make sure that he didn’t get anywhere near escaping. He guessed that he could have people come in when he was out to watch him. He laughed quietly at the thought. It was like the man needed a babysitter.

 

For the next few days, the man holed up in the guest room. Adam hadn’t bothered going up there to check on him. He figured the man would appreciate the alone time. After all, he probably had a lot he needed to sort out in his head. It wasn’t everyday you woke up to find that you’d been kidnapped.

He had gotten calls from members of the meeting group to check how he was getting on. He had told them that it was fine. The man was avoiding him it seemed, which was probably the best reaction he was going to get. He wasn’t worried that there was no news from Drogen yet. He had figured that he wouldn’t want his ‘creation’ back for the first three weeks or so. He would be thinking of ways to get him back without having to surrender. But he knew that he would go along with it. Eventually.

While Adam was still talking to Anna on the phone, he heard a bang upstairs. He quickly hung up, telling Anna he’d call her back.

He rushed up the stairs, heading for the source of the sound. He found himself in the guest room, and he saw that the man was bashing the window with a lamp to try and smash it. Adam wasn’t sure if the magic keeping the window sealed would stop it from breaking, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

He grabbed the man around the waist, pulling him away from the window as he struggled against him. He wrenched the lamp from the man’s hand and threw it down, ducking to dodge the arm that flew through the air his way. Deftly stepping around the man, Adam pinned his arms behind his back.

“It’s not going to work, so you might as well stop trying to get away,” Adam whispered into his ear.

“I just want to go home,” the man hissed.

“And you will. But not yet. If you don’t stop trying to escape, I’ll make sure you stay longer,” Adam said. He hoped that his lie would get the man to behave a little more. He wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on him 24/7.

The man went quiet, and Adam noticed how tiny he actually was. He looked almost vulnerable hunched in on himself like this. But he wanted the man to answer.

“Will you stop? It will be easier on both of us.”

“Yeah,” the man muttered, and Adam relaxed. He let go of the man’s arms, and watched as he stepped away from him with his head down. When he looked up again, Adam saw that his eyes were dark. He had completely forgotten that the man would need feeding, too.

“You’re hungry,” Adam stated.

The blonde shook his head. Adam knew that he was dealing with a fiery little thing, and he silently groaned at the thought of having to endure him for so long.

“I can tell. You’re eyes are dark. You need to eat.”

When the man didn’t respond, only shook his head again, Adam gave up trying to reason with him and grabbed his arm again, dragging him out of the room and down the stairs.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the man asked angrily, trying to pull his arm free.

“I’m not having you die on me, okay? ‘Cause that’s what will happen if you don’t eat.”

He pushed the man into a seat in the kitchen, going into the refrigerator and getting out a blood pack.

“Why do you even care?” the man asked, and Adam paused on his way to the microwave.

“I wouldn’t wish death on anyone. Not if they haven’t done anything to me,” Adam murmured, before putting the blood pack in the microwave. He pulled out a straw from the cupboard and leaned against the counter while he waited for the blood to heat up.

He watched the man with amusement as he wrinkled his nose at what was in the microwave. “Why do you have them?” the man asked.

“I don’t drink directly from humans. It’s too dangerous.”

The man frowned. “But it doesn’t really matter if you end up killing them. They’re only food.”

Adam bit his lip. This man had lived his vampire life with a man who thought like this. He couldn’t be helped for his ignorance. Still, he hated the way the man spoke about humans.

“We have very different beliefs. We used to be humans ourselves. How can we think of humans as nothing more than a food source? They’re still people. They still have lives,” Adam replied.

The man stayed silent, and Adam was glad for it. The microwave pinged and he took the blood pack from it, piercing a hole in it with the straw before handing it to the man. He smirked when he saw the blonde’s fangs come out in response to the blood.

“Told you you were hungry,” Adam said.

The man sighed and put his mouth on the straw poking out of the blood pack, sucking on it tentatively. He swallowed and pulled his mouth off of it, wrinkling his nose again.

“It doesn’t taste as good as it being directly from a human,” he said.

“I know. But it’s the next best thing,” Adam responded, watching as the man sucked up more of the blood. The colour in his eyes slowly turned lighter to their normal chocolate brown as he drank it all.

“Better?” Adam asked as he took the empty pack from him and threw it in the trash.

The man nodded, a faint smile on his lips. He seemed in a better mood now he had eaten. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Adam smiled back and leaned against the counter again. “Listen, I’m getting kind of sick of referring to you as ‘the man’ in my head.”

The man looked up at him. “My name’s Tommy.”

Adam nodded. “Adam.”

He was glad that he was able to get at least some information out of the man now. And he’d have to get used to calling him Tommy.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

Adam walked into the living room to find Tommy there, gazing at something on the mantelpiece. He looked closer and found that it was a picture. His breath almost stopped when he saw what picture it was.

Tommy must have sensed Adam’s presence, for he turned around and gestured to the photo.

“Who’s that?” he asked.               

Adam walked closer, standing behind Tommy and looking at the photo himself.

“He was my partner,” he whispered, smiling softly at the warm eyes of the man in the picture.

“Was?”

“Yeah. He was murdered,” Adam said hoarsely. He still hated talking about it, even after all this time. He watched as Tommy blinked in shock, then stammered to find his words.

“I...I’m sorry.”

Adam shook his head. “You didn’t know. For a long time, I couldn’t take his belongings out of the house. It hurt too much. But I got past that. This is the only thing that I can’t take down. I’ve tried...but I can’t.”

Tommy hesitated, as if he was unsure of how to say what he wanted. “What was he like?” he finally asked.

Adam was surprised at the question, but as he looked back at the photo he smiled again. “Kris was the kindest person I knew. He had such a good heart, too. He was like...everybody’s best friend. He was everything I’d ever wanted. I thought I would spend eternity with him.” He closed his eyes in an effort to push down the hurt he felt while talking about him. It only ever reminded him of how he was taken away from him so suddenly. Tommy startled him out of his thoughts by asking another question, nothing to do with Kris, and for that he was grateful.

“How long have you been a vampire?”

“Four years. My maker...you might see him. He comes around often. He’s like a father to me.”

It was quiet as Adam gazed at the photo a little longer, his thoughts still on Kris. Tommy stepped back and quietly walked out of the room, leaving Adam to stroke his finger slowly down Kris’ cheek on the picture.

He missed having someone to sleep next to at night. Kris had died a year and a half ago, and since then he had not been involved with anybody romantically. Sometimes, he longed for someone who could make him feel the way Kris had. If he could produce tears, he knew they would be streaming down his face now. It was sad that whenever he thought of Kris, the bad times at the end, when he was taken from him, overshadowed the good. He wanted to be able to feel happy when he remembered Kris and the love they had had. Not angry that the person responsible for his death was still alive.

He glanced at the doorway when he heard footsteps, and saw Tommy approach him with a blood pack. His fangs extended at the smell of the warm blood, and he realised that it had been a while since he had last fed.

“Your eyes were dark,” Tommy explained, handing him the blood pack with a straw in it, just like he had done for Tommy.

“Thank you,” he said, sucking up the blood until it was all gone. When he was finished, he made for the kitchen to throw away the rubbish, but instead, Tommy took it from him and did it himself.

It had been a while since anyone had done anything for him, and it unsettled him briefly. Since Kris had died, he had been alone in this house. Sure, his friends had stopped over sometimes, but at the end of the day it was always him on his own. He was going to have to get used to having someone with him again. But as he turned away from the photo and out of the living room, he thought that it wouldn’t be too bad, after all.

 

There was another meeting that day, and he was undecided about what to do with Tommy. He still wasn’t sure if he would try and escape or not, but he didn’t want Tommy to be angry with him if he had someone watch over him. He had only just started to gain his trust. He didn’t want to ruin it. He decided to ask Tommy about it. He was fairly good at spotting a lie.

He found Tommy in the guest room where he slept, his fingers drumming a beat out on the wooden desk. Adam had noticed Tommy doing that a lot, and he was curious about it. But he had something else to ask now.

“I have to go out somewhere,” he said, smiling apologetically when Tommy jumped.

“And?” Tommy asked, and Adam could see that, although he had stopped ignoring Adam or fighting to escape, he still had that bit of fire in him. It amused him, somehow.

“I didn’t know whether you would try to escape again when I’m gone. I didn’t want to have someone come over without your input.”

Tommy sat motionless for a few seconds before responding. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’m not going to run. Trust me, if there was a way for me to escape, I would be gone by now. But there isn’t. So, there’s no point in me trying, is there?”

Adam looked into Tommy’s eyes to make sure that he was telling the truth. He looked and sounded genuine, so Adam took it to mean that he was telling the truth. If Adam was going to get Tommy to trust him, he had to trust Tommy as well. So, with a final nod he walked out and set off for the meeting.

 

He could hear the rumble of chatter from outside of the room but, as he walked in himself, the talking died down and he found a sea of eyes looking his way. He tried to avoid the stares, keeping his own eyes on the ground before Anna came up to him and forced him to look up.

“Finally. We’ve all been waiting for you. Sit down.”

Adam found Marcus and took the seat next to him. Anna sat at the front and took charge. She was the only one who could quieten a room so quickly.

“Right, now that we’re all settled, lets get down to business. I know that not all of you were there when we put Adam’s plan into action, but you all know that it worked. The boy is being kept at Adam’s while we wait for Drogen to give us an answer. Adam, I think a smart thing to do would be to find out what his power is. It will help us determine how valuable he is to Drogen and therefore how long it will take before he wants him back,” she said.

Adam cleared his throat before speaking. “I don’t think I can get that information just yet.”

“Why not? Is he ignoring you again?”

“No, he’s talking to me now. But we’ve only just started talking. I don’t want him to think that I’m only talking to him to get information out of him,” Adam explained.

Anna frowned. “But essentially, you are, Adam. We need to get as much information out of him as possible. We didn’t think he’d talk to you at all, so we need to use this to our advantage.”

“But that’s not the reason I wanted him to talk to me. I was getting sick of the silence and knowing that I would have weeks, maybe even months of him avoiding me before he went home. Just let it wait a little, yeah? We have plenty of time.”

“Yeah, give the boy a break, Ann. He’s the one having to live with someone who has been in such close proximity to Drogen, not us,” Marcus came to his defence, and Adam threw a smile his way.

Anna’s eyes went soft, and Adam knew that she was remembering how he had been getting lonely on his own. “Oh, Adam, you and your care for others feelings,” she said affectionately, then moved on to discuss other matters.

The meeting went on for another hour and as Anna called an end to it, there was a collective cheer among the group of vampires. She laughed, swatting at Marcus when he did a fist pump in the air.

While Adam was talking to some of the vampires that hadn’t left yet, he heard someone come up behind him. He turned around, finding Morissey standing there with a grin on his face. Groaning, he excused himself and fully faced him.

“What do you want?”

“Just wondering if you’d done it yet,” Morissey replied, a glint in his eye.

“Done what?”

“You know, had it on with that guy that you’ve got tied up there,” he said, and Adam could smell the burst of lust at his words.

“His name’s Tommy, I don’t keep him tied up and no, I haven’t and I don’t intend to,” Adam answered.

“If I had him in my house, I’d keep him tied up all night so he could beg prettily for me.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. “And this is exactly why you couldn’t be trusted to have him in your house. He’s a person, not a sex toy.”

“He could be your sex toy if you’d just listen to your cock.”

“Really, Morissey? I don’t have any desire to do anything with him,” Adam said.

Morissey raised an eyebrow. “You might not want to have any desires for him, but you do, Adam. No one could resist that level of pretty.”

“You’re wrong,” Adam told him, turning and walking away from him. He couldn’t help but let Morissey’s words replay in his mind, though. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he was kind of right, as much as he hated to admit it. Tommy had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen and they were framed with long dark lashes that Adam would kill for. He had those lips, too. Those pouty lips that would probably feel super nice against his own. Yeah, okay, he could admit that he found Tommy pretty hot. It was hard not to. But it didn’t really mean anything. He would never use him for his own pleasure like Morissey would.

“Hey, Lambert! Save him for me if you don’t want him!” he heard called behind his back. He flipped Morissey off and tried to push out the thoughts of Tommy that were inappropriate.

 

When he came home, he found the place spotless. He gaped at the shining countertops and the pristine floors. He went around the house, and found that everywhere was so much cleaner than it had been before.

He came to a stop in his bedroom doorway, where Tommy was sitting polishing his bedside table. When he heard Adam come in, he stood up with a nervous smile on his face.

“I’m sorry if you didn’t want me coming in here...”

Adam stopped him. “No, it’s fine. What are you doing?” he asked, feeling dumb when Tommy glanced down at the duster in his hand.

“Cleaning. I was bored sitting around doing nothing, and the place looked like it needed a clean. It was something for me to do,” Tommy said.

Adam nodded. “It’s probably cleaner than it’s ever been. Sure you’ve never been a maid on the side?” Adam joked.

Tommy cracked a smile. “Do these hands look like they’ve been scrubbing floors?” he asked, holding them up.

Adam laughed. “Well, thank you. It was certainly a surprise to come home to.”

“Don’t expect it often.”

Adam laughed again, and he noticed that he was really _laughing._ Since Kris, it never felt like he had laughed the way he used to. But Tommy seemed to bring it back out in him. It fucked his head up a little bit, but mostly, it relieved him. His heart didn’t ache for Kris and he didn’t think about him every second of the day the way he had before, and Adam had took that as him moving on. But he had always secretly felt like there was something else missing from his old self. And this was it. The part of himself that was carefree and laughed at the smallest of jokes. He was glad that that part of himself wasn’t completely lost.

He heard another laugh from nearby, and looked over to see Tommy laughing along with him. It was beautiful and confusing and scary all at the same time, but he just laughed it off.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I’ve changed my mind and decided to post a chapter every day. This is because I know a lot of people who want to read it when it’s all posted and this way it won’t take as long to post. Hope you’re all enjoying it so far! :D


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

 

Days went by, and Adam felt like he could talk to Tommy more now. It was still awkward at times when he remembered the reason why he was there, but they both ignored it the best they could.

Adam had noticed Tommy doing that tapping thing again with his fingers, and he decided to ask him about it. Tommy looked up at his question and back down at his hand, as if he didn’t realise he’d been doing it. The drumming on the tabletop stopped.

“Oh, I play guitar. I’m always thinking up rhythms in my head,” Tommy replied.

Adam had a flashback of Kris playing his guitar in the very room they were in, and it made him think about how much he had missed it. He used to love the sound of a guitar, especially when it was played just for him, but he couldn’t play himself. So, when Kris died, the music that used to give him so much joy had vanished.

Adam pursed his lips. “Do you miss it?”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said casually, although Adam could smell the almost longing to have a guitar in his hands.

He decided then. He was going to get Tommy a guitar.

 

He came back from the shops with a guitar case slung over his shoulder. He had no idea there were so many different kinds of guitars. He had had to ask the other people in the shop about what was the best one to buy, and even they were too indecisive.

In the end, he had picked a Fender that had a maroon colour to it. Faint stars were decorated on it that Adam thought looked pretty, but he wasn’t sure what Tommy would think of it.

He searched for Tommy, finding him in front of the television.

“Hey,” Adam said in greeting.

“Hey,” Tommy said, glancing up at him and back at what he was watching, and then doing a double take.

Adam gently sat the guitar down next to Tommy, grinning at Tommy’s bemused look. “This is your new guitar!”

Tommy’s mouth dropped open, and for a second he looked almost like a goldfish. Then, he slowly unzipped the case it was in and stared in wonder at the polished surface of the guitar. He looked back up at Adam and opened his mouth a few times, no words coming out. Then, he finally managed to get the words out.

“You’ve just brought me a guitar?”

Adam’s forehead creased. “Yeah. Don’t you like it? I can take it back and get you another one if you want.”

Tommy’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? How can you even be serious?”

Adam bit his lip. He was kind of confused. Tommy looked like he liked the guitar, but the way he was speaking was making him think he didn’t. “What’s the matter?”

Tommy looked back down at the guitar, stroking a hand down the neck of it. “Don’t get me wrong, I love it. But...I can’t help thinking about how stupidly generous this is.”

“I have enough money to spare. It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not just the money. I’ve been here just over a week, and I’ve met you through you kidnapping me. It’s a little weird is all.”

Adam sat down next to Tommy. “I’m not really like the average kidnapper though, am I? I mean, I’m not doing it to hurt you or anything.”

“I know. And that’s why I’ve found it easier to talk with you. But it’s still weird,” Tommy repeated.

“I just...there’s not much for you to do here and I thought if this is what you enjoy, why not get it you? I’d feel guilty if you were bored all of the time. Listen, if you want anything else tell me, okay? I’m not gonna believe for a second that you enjoy this programme,” Adam said, flicking a glance at the documentary about neurology.

Tommy smirked. “And what makes you think that? I didn’t think you were so stereotypical.”

“Huh?”

“Blondes can be smart, too, you know. We’re not all dumb, thank you very much.”

“I think that only applies for natural blondes,” Adam pointed out.

Tommy’s hands flew straight to his hair. “Are my roots growing back?!”

Adam snickered. “No. I could just tell.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Adam nudged him with his shoulder. “Wanna play for me?” he asked, eyeing the guitar pointedly.

Tommy nodded, lifting the guitar carefully out of the case and pulling it onto his lap. He checked the tunings on it before plucking at the strings. Adam smiled at the familiar sound that was so different at the same time. Kris used to play soft songs that had a quiet melody, whereas Tommy played a song that had a mysterious edge to it and moved at a quicker pace. It suited Tommy’s personality perfectly, and Adam thought it was beautiful. He watched Tommy’s face as he played, gently swaying to the music he was making and his eyes closed shut.

It made Adam’s heart warm to listen to the sound that he had missed hearing around the house, so much so that he almost didn’t notice Tommy had stopped.

“You’re really good,” Adam said quietly.

“Thanks.”

They sat there in silence, sitting across from each other on the couch before Tommy got up and put the guitar back in the case. He moved it over to the corner of the room and rested it against the wall.

“So...you weren’t really enjoying this, right?” Adam asked, tilting his head towards the television.

“Hell, no! Why? What have you got in mind?”

Adam shrugged. “Movie?”

Adam watched as Tommy’s eyes widened and he grabbed for the remote, flicking channels so fast that the screen was a blur. “I forgot this was on. Come on, movie time!” Tommy said, flopping down next to Adam.

Adam frowned. “What is it?”

“Interview with the Vampire.”

“Are you kidding me?” Adam asked incredulously.

“No.”

“But you know that all of the traits of us in those films are just myths. Well, except for the stake through the heart thing. That truth must’ve slipped out when we were spreading the lies or something,” Adam said, still staring at Tommy like he was crazy.

“But that’s the whole fun of it! It’s like, so ridiculous that it’s funny,” Tommy explained.

“I don’t see how. It just irritates me.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Would you rather they know everything about us so those vampire hunters have more advantages to kill us?”

“Well, no...”

“Then stop complaining. Come on, it’s funny! This is my idea of comedy. Look at it from my point of view and you’ll be laughing your ass of,” Tommy said, settling back into the couch as the film started.

Adam groaned but gave in, watching the film with mild interest. Okay, he had to admit, it was pretty funny how wrong they had it all. By the end of it, he was laughing so much that his stomach hurt, and that was how he knew he could trust Tommy.

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

“This is so annoying,” Tommy complained, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“What is?” Adam asked, peeping his head around the corner of the doorway curiously.

Tommy gestured to the blood pack that he was holding, half empty. Tommy’s fangs were still out, razor sharp and tinged with red. It was natural instinct for their fangs to come out when they were hungry or around things that made them hungry. “This. I just can’t get used to it.”

“I thought you were doing alright with it. It fills you up, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, but it just...it isn’t the same. When you drink directly from a human, you can feel the heart beat through the blood. This is so still. It’s weird,” Tommy said.

“You’ll get used to it soon.”

Tommy sighed. “Can’t you bring me a human? Please?”

“Tommy, I can’t. I have morals, and letting an innocent person die is going against them,” Adam said. He had a feeling that Tommy would bring this up. He knew it must be hard for him to drink from the blood packs when he had lived his whole life drinking from humans.

“Well, if it really bothers you, I could just drain a little blood from a human and not kill them,” Tommy suggested hopefully, but Adam shot it down.

“I’m sorry, Tommy, but I can’t let you do that, either. You may think that you can stop, but it’s too hard. The bloodlust would take over and before you know it, the person could be dead. I wouldn’t be able to take that risk,” Adam said softly.

Tommy looked disappointed, but nodded. “Have you always drunk from blood packs?”

“No. The first time I fed I drank directly from a human. Marcus was trying to get me on blood packs from the start, but I was stubborn. I knew it wouldn’t be the same. So, I snuck out and went to a bar. I managed to lure this woman out, took her down an alley where we couldn’t be seen and bit her. I drank from her until I heard her heart begin to weaken. It freaked me out. I’d never intended to kill, and there I was, so close to murdering someone.

“I tried to stop. But it was so hard. The bloodlust took over and I couldn’t control it. That was when my ability kicked in. I could smell her fear. That’s what it took for me to gain control and stop.”

“Wait. You’re ability is what...you can smell emotions?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah. They have to be pretty strong for me to smell them, though. It’s so much harder for me to pick up a hint of a feeling. Sometimes, it’s just a whiff if it’s not a very strong feeling.”

Tommy blinked. “So, have you ever felt my emotions?”

“Not too strongly. The first time you were here and you freaked out, I could smell your fear and anger. But I wasn’t really focusing on it, so it was more of a background smell,” Adam explained.

A wistful look came into Tommy’s eyes. “I wish I had an ability.”

“You don’t have one?”

“No. It doesn’t look like I’m ever gonna get one, now.”

Adam remembered that this was what Anna had wanted to know, and made a note in his head to tell her about it.

It made sense. Drogen seemed to be taking a long time, and it was obviously because Tommy didn’t have a power. He probably thought of Tommy as less worthy to risk his life for if he didn’t have anything that could be useful to him. A rush of anger ran through him when he thought about that. Tommy was more worthy than a lot of the people Drogen had gathered up for his army.

He answered Tommy, not wanting to tell him what had just ran through his head. There was no use in telling him something that would just upset him. “Well, not all vampires have an ability. Some of the strongest vampires out there don’t have any powers.”

A soft smile came onto Tommy’s face. “So...no killing humans.”

“No killing humans,” Adam agreed.

“It’s so hard feeding this way. I mean, I still don’t completely understand why you do,” Tommy said.

Adam was about to reply that he had already told him why he wouldn’t drink from humans, but then he remembered that Tommy wasn’t used to being around anyone who had his views. He was still getting used to this way of living. But Adam knew that he couldn’t let anyone kill a human whilst living under his roof, so Tommy was just going to have to deal with it.

He tried to think of a way that might help him with living this way. At first he thought it was stupid; he wasn’t going to be here that long. But Adam also knew how hard it had been when he was getting used to drinking from blood packs himself. He knew that it must be harder for Tommy having lived that way ever since he was turned. Adam had only drank from a human once and drinking from the blood packs for the first few weeks had been torture. He could remember the overwhelming desire to go out and hunt down his prey. That was before he had learned to control the blood thirsty side of him that came with being a vampire.

He decided that he would help Tommy to control that side of him, too, so it would be easier to drink from the blood packs. He decided to call Rob and Carrie to see if they could come around and help him. He figured that as long as he was living with Tommy, he might as well make Tommy see a little clearer into his way of thinking.

 

After he had made the call, he went and found Tommy in the guest room (although, it could now be considered Tommy’s room), sitting on the bed and playing his guitar. He looked up when Adam came in, but didn’t stop the soft strumming on the strings.

Adam sat next to him, the music Tommy was making quiet enough to be heard over. “I’ve thought of a way to help you with drinking from the packs.”

Tommy’s hand stopped moving on the strings, and he carefully put the guitar down before twisting his body around to face Adam. “Really? What is it?”

Adam was silent for a moment, mesmerised by Tommy’s big brown eyes staring up at him, a light chocolate colour now because of drinking the blood. He shook his head to clear it and answered Tommy’s question. “I have two friends that are coming over today.”

Tommy cocked an eyebrow. “And that will help because...?”

“They’re both human.”

Adam watched as Tommy’s eyes widened in surprise. He knew that it was rare, even among the vampires that were against killing humans, for a vampire to be friends with a human. Most humans either didn’t believe they existed or did believe and took it upon themselves to rid the world of them. It wasn’t like they couldn’t know a vampire was a vampire, either. It would be very hard to hide the changing colour of their eyes or the fangs when they got hungry.

“How...how?” Tommy asked.

“They’re very open minded,” Adam tried to explain, but Tommy cut him off.

“Not many open minded people believe in vampires. I was pretty open minded, but I had to see it before I believed it,” Tommy said. Adam noticed that Tommy was talking about his human life, and he briefly wondered what he was like before he was turned. Adam was sure that he had always had that bit of fire in him. That wasn’t something that just came with being a vampire.

“They are. See, they’re kinda like witches.”

Adam didn’t think Tommy’s eyes would go any wider. “Witches are real? I could just about wrap my head around vampires being real, and now witches are real?”

“Well, not in the stereotypical sense of the word. They don’t fly on brooms or have black cats or pointy hats. They just...do magic. They’re the ones who sealed the windows and doors for me when you first came here,” Adam said.

“Right, so, you have human friends who are witches. How will this help me again?”

“Being around them will make you thirst for their blood, but then I can help you control it. Plus, you’ll be able to see why I could never take an innocent person’s life. It’s bound to help you feel better about drinking from the blood packs.”

Tommy ran a hand over his mouth nervously. “I don’t know...I haven’t ever been around a human without drinking from them.”

“I know and it will be hard, I’m not saying it won’t be. But I’m here, and I’ll make sure nothing happens. You can trust me, you know?”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah. I’ll try, Adam,” he said, looking up at Adam. Adam tried not to get lost in those eyes, but it was difficult. Tommy’s eyes were warm and looking into them made Adam feel alive in a way he hadn’t ever felt before. He tried not to look too deep into it, though. He had reminded himself that Tommy wasn’t going to be here long.

Adam smiled down at him, pulling himself out of those eyes and fixing his gaze somewhere above Tommy’s head. “That’s all I ask.”

When Adam heard a knock on the door, he gave Tommy a reassuring smile and went to answer it. He grinned when he saw his friends, giving them both a hug before stepping back to let them in. He saw Tommy standing there with his mouth slightly open at the way Adam had greeted them, and he moved quickly to his side.

“Carrie, Rob, this is Tommy. He’s the one who you had to seal the windows and doors for.”

He was grateful when they didn’t hold out their hands for him to shake. He knew that would be too much for Tommy.

“Nice to meet you, Tommy,” Rob said, smiling. Carrie nodded in agreement, her short brown hair bobbing along with the movement.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Tommy said quietly, and Adam patted his shoulder encouragingly before leading them into the living room. He took the seat next to Tommy, while Carrie and Rob took the couch across from them.

“So, how’ve you been doing since I last saw you?” he asked, and they fell into easy conversation.

 All of the time, he could smell Tommy’s thirst for their blood. It was strong, and Adam could remember the feeling all too well. He could remember not being able to be around humans without wanting to bite into them and drink. He was so glad that he had gotten past that.

He could sense that Tommy hardly had the blood lust under control, so he kept his hand on Tommy’s knee in a hope that it would ground him. He tried to forget about the warmth of Tommy’s jean covered skin or the way that Tommy had shifted so that his legs were also touching Adam’s.

At one point, he heard Tommy’s sudden intake of breath, and saw that Tommy’s fangs had come out. He quickly looked to his eyes, seeing that they weren’t dark, so it was less likely that he would try anything. The darkness of the eyes meant that he was hungry, the fangs meant that he wanted to feed. There was a very subtle difference.

He squeezed Tommy’s knee to tell him to relax, and carried on talking as if nothing had happened. He knew that Rob and Carrie wouldn’t be too fazed; they were used to being around vampires. When Adam looked back at Tommy, his fangs were gone and he was looking into his lap sheepishly.

When Adam asked them if they wanted a drink and got up to go to the kitchen, Tommy shuffled along behind him. He could hear his sigh of relief at being farther away from them.

“How do you do it? I can barely control myself around them. If it weren’t for you being there, I probably would have...” he let the sentence go unfinished.

“I don’t feel the bloodlust for them anymore. I used to. But then I got to know them and the more time I spent with them, the less it affected me,” Adam replied, reaching up into the cupboards.

“They seem...nice,” Tommy said, and Adam could hear the tone of surprise in his voice. Knowing Drogen, he had probably drilled into his head that humans were no good and evil.

“They are. I wouldn’t be friends with them if they weren’t.”

Tommy frowned as he watched Adam put tea bags into two mugs. “You have human food here?”

“Only human drinks. It would be rude of me not to be able to offer them drinks when they come,” Adam said simply, and he turned when he heard Tommy’s laugh. “What?”

“You really aren’t the stereotypical vampire, are you?”

Adam smirked. “Wouldn’t wanna be. Now, why don’t you go back in to Carrie and Rob while I finish with the drinks?”

He caught Tommy’s scared look, and went over to him. “It’s fine. You won’t hurt them. It would be good for you to get to know them. Go,” Adam said, pushing him gently out of the door before going back to making the tea.

He knew that he would smell if Tommy’s hunger was getting too much, so he wasn’t worried. Besides, it seemed like Tommy was pretty good at controlling himself. He heard voices in the living room as he started to walk in holding the mugs carefully, but he stopped just outside of the door at the mention of his name.

“How did you meet Adam?”

Adam heard Carrie’s soft voice answer. “We were helping his group fight against some vampire hunters. They had heard of us being able to do magic and being in contact with other vampires, and they had really needed the help. Plus, it gave those hunters a little shock when they saw humans fighting alongside them.”

Rob laughed. “Yeah, the shock factor always works. Adam was one of the nicest vampires we had ever met. He didn’t make us feel like we were prey or sex toys like a few of the other vamps there.”

“You really don’t mind him being a vampire?”

“No, you’re still people. I mean, the only differences are that you live forever, it’s hard to kill you and you like to drink blood,” Rob said.

Tommy laughed. “Well, when you put it like that...”

“We’re really not that different,” Carrie finished for him.

There was silence, and Adam took the opportunity to make his presence known. He pushed the door open, seeing Rob and Carrie sitting there holding hands and Tommy looking like he was deep in thought.

Adam handed his friends their drinks and sat back down next to Tommy. They talked some more, and Adam could feel Tommy’s bloodlust lessen throughout their conversation.

When it was time for them to go, he followed them out to the door, thanking them for coming over and hugging them again before shutting the door behind him. He returned to the living room and frowned at Tommy, who was still sitting there silently.

“Are you okay?”

Tommy nodded slowly, his eyes still unfocused. “Yeah. I think...I don’t think I’ll find it as hard to drink from the blood packs now.”

“Really? That’s great!”

Adam knew that he was thinking about what Rob and Carrie had said about vampires. He was probably thinking back on how he used to be a human, too. Adam knew that it must be weird for him. This day had flipped his view on humans completely.

Tommy blinked, and the focus came back into his eyes. “Thank you.”

Adam smiled, a feeling that he recognised in the pit of his stomach. He realised that he was proud of Tommy. He had never thought that he would have that amount of self control. And although it sounded kind of stupid that he was proud of him, the feeling was nice and he didn’t mind letting it stay.

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

 

 

Adam had just gotten off the phone to Marcus, who was coming over soon to check on how Adam was doing. When he was still new to being a vampire, he had been a little freaked out by having someone in his life who would just pop over unexpected like that. But he had gotten used to it now, and he had to admit that it was nice to know that someone cared for him.

He turned around to find Tommy sitting on the stairs, his knees tucked up and his chin resting on them. He had been quiet since yesterday, and though Adam knew that he needed to go back into his own mind to think about things, he couldn’t stand the silence.

Adam perched on the stair next to him, his long legs stretching out onto the stairs below him. Tommy looked up at him, his eyes curious.

“Why did you want to help me control myself around humans? I mean, I know that it was so that I could handle drinking the blood packs, but why bother? I’m not going to be here long anyway, am I?”

Adam tried to think of how to put his feelings into words. “I guess...I want you to go away with something. You know, when you go back, maybe it can help you in the future,” he said. He thought about what would happen when Tommy went back. Drogen would be dead that same day. He didn’t know what would happen to Tommy, and that thought scared him.

Tommy looked at him for a long moment, and then smiled. “I shouldn’t be dwelling on it, should I? I bet you think I’m an idiot.”

Adam shook his head, his own smile reflecting Tommy’s. “No, I just think you’re incredibly strong. I’m proud of you,” he said, and if he had had any blood within the last hour, he swore he would have been blushing.

“You are?” Tommy asked, and he sounded so insecure that Adam wanted to wrap him up in a hug. His arms came up and curled around Tommy without even thinking, and he sighed as Tommy sank into the hug.

“Yeah, I am,” he whispered into his ear, and he felt Tommy shiver. He pulled back, wondering if Tommy was cold, when he hit his head on the banister above the stairs. He winced, rubbing his head while Tommy giggled.

“Not funny,” he muttered, and Tommy just bit his lip in an attempt to stop the giggles.

“Umm, Marcus is coming over today,” Adam said in an attempt to change the subject, as cute as Tommy’s giggles were.

“Who’s Marcus?” Tommy asked.

“My maker.”

“Oh, yeah. You told me about him yesterday. So, he’s like you?”

Adam laughed. “Well, if you mean he doesn’t believe in killing humans, then yes, he’s like me.”

Tommy paused. “What’s he like?” he asked, almost nervously.

“He’s one of the most giving people I know. He doesn’t have any powers, but he taught me how to control my ability when I first got it.”

Tommy cocked his head to the side. “How can you control your ability? I mean, you can’t stop yourself from smelling emotions, can you?”

Adam shook his head. “No, I can’t. But I can push them into the background when my ability isn’t needed. And I can also search out certain emotions in people.”

“So...Marcus helped you with that?”

“Yeah. I have a lot of respect for him, as do others in the vampire community. Although, he has made some enemies in his time for his views on humans. But he would never confront them about it. He hates violence. Avoids it at all costs,” Adam said.

Tommy nodded as he took in the information. “He sounds nice.”

“He is. He can be a little overbearing at times about the choices I make, but I know it’s only because he wants the best for me,” Adam said, remembering that night when he had decided to kill Drogen. Marcus had pleaded with him not to go through with it, but he did. And Marcus was still by his side even though he’d gone against his wishes.

“Should I go upstairs or something while he’s here?”

“What? No, I’d like you to meet him. If you want to, that is,” Adam added quickly.

“Sure,” Tommy replied.

They sat in a comfortable silence before a knock on the door made them both jump. Tommy got up from the stairs, standing up straight while Adam answered the door. Adam gave Marcus a hug when he saw him, and then introduced him to Tommy. Marcus hadn’t seen Tommy yet, and Adam, for some weird reason, really wanted them to get along. Marcus was like his father and Tommy...well, Tommy was Tommy.

“How’ve you been getting along here?” Marcus asked, his question directed at Tommy.

“Okay. There could be worst places to be kidnapped in,” he laughed and Marcus joined in, although Adam caught his frown, as if Tommy was acting too okay in the situation he was in. Which was probably true, but this wasn’t any normal kidnapping. Adam hadn’t ever wanted to hurt him.

“Do you want some blood?”

“That would be good,” Marcus said, and Adam went into the kitchen to microwave some packs while Tommy and Marcus went into the living room.

He came back a few minutes later and found Tommy and Marcus sitting on the same couch, with an Adam sized space in between them. He handed a blood pack to Marcus and Tommy, who looked at it in surprise.

“Thanks,” he murmured before taking a sip of it.

Marcus looked back and forth between the two of them with a line between his eyes, but Adam took his seat between them and ignored it, instead talking to Marcus about what was going on where he was.

Marcus nodded in the right places and chimed in every now and then, but Adam could tell that he was distracted. He followed his gaze more than once to where Tommy had leaned into him, and his frown deepened when he caught Adam looking down at Tommy fondly.

When he got up to leave, he gestured for Adam to come with him outside the house. Adam didn’t know what was going on, but he shut the front door behind him and stepped out anyway.

“What is it?”

Marcus shook his head. “Adam...”

“Spit it out. Please.”

“Just, don’t get too attached, okay?” Marcus said simply, but it just confused Adam even more.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Tommy’s not going to be here for long...”

“Actually, he might be here for a while. He told me that he hasn’t got an abilty. Drogen won’t be too worried about leaving it a while before he gets him back,” Adam said.

“He hasn’t? You should have told us sooner. I’ll have to tell the others. But that isn’t the point. You can’t get too attached to him. As soon as he can, he’ll go and you won’t ever see him again. I don’t want you to get hurt, Adam,” Marcus said softly, but his words cut like a knife.

“I’m not getting attached!” Adam snapped.

“You are. I can tell. It’s the same. The way you look at him, everything. I can remember that look.”

“He’s not Kris! I’m just enjoying his company while he’s here. Is that such a bad thing?”

Marcus sighed. “No, it isn’t. You have no idea how many times I wished you could find someone again after Kris. But it wouldn’t work like this.”

“I know it wouldn’t. We’re just friends,” Adam said, and he wished it didn’t sound so much like a lie.

“Adam, you need to distance yourself from him. Emotionally. I wouldn’t be able to bear seeing you that hurt again,” Marcus told him.

“Marcus, I’m not going to get hurt.”

“Whatever you say. I’ll see ya,” he said, turning on his heel and walking away.

Adam ran a hand through his hair angrily, not caring if he was messing it up, and walked back into the house. He headed straight for the television and put on the first sad film he could find to take his mind off things. He couldn’t deal with thinking through any feelings that he might have been developing for Tommy. It was such a messed up situation, and he would only mess it up more by looking at things too closely. Or at least, that was what he told himself.

A few minutes into the film, Tommy poked his head around the door.

“Mind if I join you?”

Adam kind of wanted to say no. He was trying to get away from thoughts of Tommy, and him being there beside him would make it so much harder. But he couldn’t say no to the hopeful smile gracing Tommy’s face, and he nodded instead.

Tommy flopped down next to him, his hair falling into his face. Adam wanted to brush it back so he could see the delicate curve of his cheekbones, but he refrained from doing so.

Marcus’ words kept coming back to him and he wondered if he was right, after all. Some of the things he felt for Tommy, they weren’t always what friends should feel for each other. Tommy interrupted his thoughts.

“What the hell is this?”

Adam snapped out of it and his eyes wandered to the film that Tommy was referring to. “It’s one of the many sad films I own. Just be warned, you might end up wanting to cry at the end.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “I don’t get like that over films.”

Adam shrugged, and they sat in silence as the film continued. Every so often he snuck glances at Tommy, and every time he found something else about him that was beautiful.

At the end, Adam glanced over at Tommy, smirking when he saw him rubbing at his eyes with his hand and scrunching up his nose. He knew that he was feeling the burning in his eyes that told him that if he was human, he’d have tears running down his cheeks.

Adam leaned over and patted his leg. “I know what I’m talking about,” he said, before leaving the room.

And that was how he gained Tommy’s trust.

 


	8. Chapter 8

                                                            

 

 

“It’s weird, isn’t it?”

Adam glanced over at Tommy from where he was ironing his clothes. He knew that it would make humans laugh to think of a vampire doing something so domesticated, but the truth was, they weren’t all that different. He frowned and tried to think of what Tommy was talking about.

“You know, us. How we’ve sort of become friends,” Tommy explained, his chin resting on his hands.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you basically kidnapped me. You’d think I’d hate you.”

Adam pursed his lips. It kept on coming down to this, the situation that they were in. It messed with his head to think back to what the whole point of Tommy being here was. “I guess. Do you hate me sometimes?” he asked. He guessed it was only natural for Tommy to feel some sort of resentment towards him.

“No. I mean, I did at the start. But I’m comfortable around you now, when I used to be afraid. It’s crazy because it doesn’t feel like I’m being held against my will anymore. It’s like...an extended stay with a friend.”

Adam smiled at the way Tommy worded it. It was exactly how he felt. It felt so natural sometimes to be around Tommy that he rarely stopped and thought about how they ended up here. “I’m glad you feel comfortable around me. I never thought we’d end up taking someone who I’d actually get along with. To be honest, I thought you’d be a pain in the ass,” he joked.

“Is that meant to be a compliment?” Tommy asked before biting his lip. “The only thing that I don’t like about being here is having to stay in the house all of the time. I kinda feel cooped up always being inside.”

Adam paused while ironing out a crease in his shirt, wondering whether or not to joke about there being a garden outside and get Tommy to drop the subject, or take Tommy seriously. He decided on the latter. “We can always go out tonight,” he blurted out without thinking.

Tommy looked up in surprise. “Really?”

Adam took a deep breath. He really should have thought this through. But the grin that was spreading on Tommy’s face was so worth it that he couldn’t back out now. “Yeah. As long as you don’t run or anything,” he warned.

Tommy snorted. “Adam, I know how strong you are and I’m not gonna be stupid enough to run off and go against that.”

Adam wanted to tell him that he wouldn’t ever hurt him, even if he did run off. But he couldn’t get out the words. All he could think about was how this would be overstepping the boundaries. He’d be taking such a risk by taking Tommy out with him. He could curse himself for not being able to say no to that pretty little face.

“Where will we go?” Tommy asked excitedly, almost bouncing in his seat.

Adam finally found the words to speak. “Ermm, we can go to a vampire club if you want. Around eight?” he suggested.

“ Great!” Tommy said, hopping off the stool he had been sitting on and skipping out the room, while Adam tried not to think about what he had gotten himself into.

 

Hours later, Adam was sorting out what he was going to wear to the club, flinging clothes around to try and find the perfect outfit. He always wanted to look good when he was going out, but tonight it seemed like there was something else that made him want to look his best. A little voice in his head told him to stop being stupid about not knowing who it was for. It told him that he knew really, and that there was no point in hiding it from himself.

“Shut up,” he muttered to the voice, digging through the closet for his best pants. He froze when he heard a chuckle from behind him. Turning around, he nearly face palmed when he saw Tommy standing there.

“Were you just talking to yourself?” he asked, the grin still on his face. Adam was glad to see that he wasn’t dressed yet, either.

“No...maybe. Anyway, what do you want?”

Tommy fidgeted with the cuffs of his shirt. “Umm...I know you wear makeup sometimes and I was wondering....could I borrow some?”

Adam blinked. Okay, he hadn’t expected that. The only makeup he had worn around Tommy was eyeliner, and he had a lot more than that in his makeup bag.

“Sure. Go ahead and take what you want,” he gestured toward the little black bag he had on the dresser.

“You have a whole bag of makeup?” Tommy asked, walking over to it and picking things out to look at.

“Yep. You can never have too much. I didn’t know you wore makeup,” Adam commented.

Tommy shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to. Never got the chance, though.”

Adam wondered if that was because of Drogen. He doubted Drogen would care about anything that his ‘creations’ wanted. He probably only ever brought them the necessities like clothes. He watched as Tommy fingered the brushes and pencils with a brightness in his eyes.

“I can use anything?”

Adam nodded. “Anything.”

He turned back to his closet as Tommy took his pick and went back to the guest room to get changed.  

He managed to find his favourite leather pants and pulled them on with a plain black shirt to match. He rummaged through his makeup bag to line his eyes with kohl and brushed some smokey shadow on his eyelids. Spiking his hair up a little, Adam pulled on his boots and went out into the hallway, waiting for Tommy at the bottom of the stairs.

He had to wait for a while but he was kind of glad. He didn’t know why he felt the way he did. Maybe it was because he had only ever interacted with Tommy inside his house. He had never been anywhere else withhim, and he guessed it was making him nervous.

Eventually, Tommy appeared at the top of the stairs and, as he slowly made his way down, Adam couldn’t help but rake his gaze over him.

He looked like the word perfection was made to describe him. He wore tight skinny jeans and a silvery ruffled shirt that clung to his upper body. As he brushed his hair back from his face, Adam could see that his eyes were also lined in black and dark shadow. A shine caught his eye, and he looked down to see that Tommy had a clear gloss on his lips. Adam could have kicked himself for agreeing to let Tommy use his makeup. He was already tempting, but this just made it all the more harder.

“How do I look?” Tommy asked when he was beside Adam, spinning around jokingly.

Adam swallowed several times, trying to form some sound that resembled words. “Wow,” was all he managed to get out. Tommy ducked his head in embarrassment.

“So, does that mean good?”

Adam let out a deep breath. Damn, this was going to be difficult. “Yeah. It suits you.”

Tommy’s tongue poked out to wet his already shiny lips as he not so subtly checked out Adam’s outfit. Adam was sure that he saw his eyes widen as he took in his skin tight pants. “Thanks. Ready to go?”

Adam nodded, walking ahead of Tommy to open the door. He swore he could feel Tommy’s eyes on him from behind, but when he turned back around Tommy was looking the other way.

Adam knew an underground vampire club not far from where he lived. Well, they were all underground. They couldn’t exactly flaunt what they were in front of humans. They couldn’t risk it. A lot of the clubs were created so that vampires could let loose and party without having to worry about hiding what they truly were.

When they arrived, Adam automatically opened Tommy’s door for him, and he hid behind the curtain of his hair at the gesture. It was something that he had always done for Kris, and he had seemed to accept it. It looked like Tommy, although he was more snarky than Kris, was a lot more insecure, too. Adam sort of wanted to show Tommy how he deserved to be treated, not just thought of as worthless by Drogen, but then he realised how that sounded. He wasn’t dating Tommy or anything. This was just a night out with a friend. A friend who he had met in the most unexpected of ways, yes, but still a friend.

They made their way into the club, nearly blinded by the strobe lights bouncing around the room and pulsing music making the ground vibrate. He grabbed Tommy’s hand without thinking so he wouldn’t lose him in the crowd. The touch of Tommy’s skin on his sent a hot rush through him as he pulled him to the bar.

“What do you want?” Adam shouted over the music as he waited to get served.

Tommy had been eyeing Adam’s hand in his, and Adam wondered if he was bothered by it before he replied. “Erm, I’ll have a blood and vodka.”

Adam nodded and ordered when it was his turn. He turned around to talk to Tommy, but it was too hard to be heard over the music. Instead, he leaned down and whispered in Tommy’s ear.

“You can go and get us a seat while I bring the drinks over.”

He watched as Tommy shivered, like he had on the stairs before. Adam couldn’t blame it on the cold this time, though. It was sweltering hot with the amount of vamps in the club. As Tommy weaved his way through the crowd to find them some seats, he wondered if it could be because of _him,_ not because he was cold. He felt a smile spread on his face at the thought. He was too busy watching the blonde head in the crowd that he almost didn’t hear the barman tell him that his drinks were ready.

He grabbed them from the bar, finding the table that Tommy had chosen for them and setting the drinks on it before taking a seat. He watched as Tommy took a drink from the glass, trying not to focus on the way his lips were painted red from the blood when he put it back down. He took a sip from his own drink to distract himself, closed his eyes at the sharp kick mixed with the blood.

“Are you okay?”

Adam opened his eyes. He knew he must have been acting strange. He nodded his head, brushing a hand through his hair before remembering he had product in it.

“Have you ever been to a vampire club before?” he asked.

“Yeah, twice. They weren’t quite like this one, though,” Tommy said, glancing around at the couples in the corner, who Adam knew were most likely feeding from each other and getting off on it. There were far tamer vamp clubs than this, but this was the closest one to home. He didn’t think about being in this kind of environment with Tommy, and he wished he had thought of it before he brought him here.

Tommy watched the dancers in the middle of the club while Adam fidgeted with his shirt. When Adam thought he was going to die from the nervous air around them, Tommy inclined his head towards the dance floor with a grin. “Wanna dance?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Really? Dance?”

 “Sure, why not? Unless you’re afraid of showing me your dancing skills?” Tommy asked teasingly.

Adam smirked, getting up and holding out his hand for Tommy. He was never one to back down from a challenge. Tommy took his hand, giving him tingles where their skin met, and followed his lead onto the dance floor. “I’ll give you afraid,” he murmured, and Tommy’s grin grew wider.

There were bodies tightly packed in close to them, and he moved them both so they had some space. When he positioned them where he wanted them, he moved in time with the music, his hips swaying and his neck stretched out. He could feel Tommy watch him for a while and, as he looked down at him, he almost gasped at the lust filled eyes staring back at him. He clasped onto Tommy’s arm and pulled him closer, speaking quietly into his ear for the second time that night.

“Dance with me,” he said, lips brushing against the shell of Tommy’s ear as he spoke. He knew that he shouldn’t be doing this. He wasn’t meant to be flirting with the man he was supposed to be using to get to his enemy. But he wanted to. He just wanted to let loose, see how this turned out. Tommy was making him feel things that he hadn’t felt since Kris died, and it looked like Tommy might be into him, too.

Tommy bit his lip, hands roaming Adam’s body until they found his hips. He looked up at Adam questioningly, as if to ask if this was alright, and what he saw must have been reassuring, for he pulled Adam’s hips towards his and moved his own body against him.

Adam groaned at the way Tommy felt pressed against his body, and he pushed his groin towards him in a slow roll of his hips. Tommy’s hands squeezed his hips tight as the movement gave them some friction. Adam felt the blood that he had been drinking go straight down to his cock. Tommy’s hands let go of his hips, sliding up his chest and onto his shoulders. Adam wrapped his arms around his waist as the song changed to a slow and sexy one.

He felt Tommy’s face bury in his neck, his breath coming out in hot pants. Adam continued grinding against him in what was meant to be dancing, but was slowly turning into much more.

 He stopped the movement of his hips at that thought. He couldn’t do this. He wanted Tommy, that much he could admit to himself now, but he wasn’t meant to be doing this. Nothing could come out of it. Okay, maybe he could get sex with Tommy, but that would be it. Tommy would be back home soon, and if he did anything like this, it would just hurt that much more when he left. And, though he might kill Drogen and Tommy would be free to do what he wanted, the man would never forgive him for killing his maker. He wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He already knew he would miss him. Adam didn’t want to make it any worse for himself by taking this any further. He had suffered enough heartache already.

He pushed Tommy away from him gently, smiling at the look of indecision on Tommy’s face. He was obviously having his doubts as well. He was doing the right thing. “I’m gonna go and get another drink. Same again?”

Tommy nodded, making his way back over to their table while Adam went up to the bar, adjusting himself subtly. His cock ached with the need for Tommy, but he couldn’t let himself do it. It would fuck everything up. He tried to calm himself as he waited for the drinks, reminding himself time and time again that it was a bad idea.

He didn’t notice someone coming up and leaning on the bar beside him until they put a hand on his arm. He tensed up automatically at the unfamiliar touch and looked up at the person the hand belonged to.

The man was almost Adam’s height with hazel eyes and curly black hair. He was smiling at him, so Adam relaxed a little knowing that it wasn’t going to get violent. He still didn’t know what he wanted, though.

“Hey, why’s a gorgeous man like you alone at a bar?” the man asked, his teeth glinting when the light caught them. Okay, so it was pretty obvious what the man wanted now. Adam was just about to explain that he was here with a friend when the man spoke again. “You look like you could do with some fun,” he said, eyeing the erection that Adam was still sporting.

Adam could feel his face heat up. “I’m here with a friend. I should get back to him now,” he said, reaching over for the drinks to go back to Tommy. The man’s hand that was still on his arm pulled him back from his escape.

“Well, your friend is obviously not taking good enough care of you. I can,” the man murmured, leaning in closer to Adam.

Adam gritted his teeth at the pushiness of the man. Couldn’t he take a fucking hint? He gently prised the man’s hand off his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m not interested.”

The man stepped in his way to stop him from going anywhere. “Are you so sure about that? I’m sure I can make you _very_ interested,” the man said, trailing a finger up Adam’s thigh to his crotch as he crowded him against the bar. Adam was about to throw at punch at the man when an orange something shot past him, making the man duck his head and scramble away from him. Adam frowned at the man, who looked scared out of his mind, and looked at where whatever it was had hit the wall. There was a dark patch there, almost as if it had been burnt.

The man ran out of the club as fast as he could, and the whole place seemed to have stopped what they were doing to look at whoever it was who had caused it. He looked in that direction, too, and was shocked to see Tommy standing there, his eyes wide as he stared at his outstretched hand.

It was silent for a moment, then the party started back up again as if nothing had happened. Adam stood there for a while longer, his legs unwilling to move. It was only when Tommy took a step towards him that he could move again. He grabbed Tommy’s arm, pulling him out of the club and onto a quiet corner where no one could hear them.

Tommy stepped backwards until the back of his feet found a wall and he leaned there, breaths coming as quick as they had when they had been dancing.

“What the hell happened back there?!” Adam shouted, and he instantly felt bad when Tommy flinched. But he needed answers because he was confused as fuck.

Tommy swallowed a few times. “I...don’t really know. Something came out of my hand. It was like...a fireball or something. I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt him.”

“Well, it was a good thing that you didn’t! So you say it was a fireball?”

Tommy nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know how I did it. It was like an automatic thing.”

Adam sighed. “It was probably your ability.”

“You think?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah. What did you feel, when it happened?”

Tommy looked back down at his hand thoughtfully. “There was like a rush of heat that ran through my hand and then I held it out and the fire came out of it.”

“No, not what it felt like. What you were _feeling_ when you did it,” Adam explained.

Tommy closed his eyes as he tried to remember. “I was...angry. I saw that guy hitting on you and I could tell that you didn’t want it. Then I saw him...touching you, and it just happened.”

It made sense. Adam felt a fluttering in his stomach that Tommy was almost protecting him when he did it, but he ignored it. “As you know, it sometimes takes a while for abilities to make themselves known. It’s usually triggered when a person’s really angry.”

Tommy’s eyes had opened and he was staring in wonder at his hand again. “Wow. I never knew I’d get an ability,” he said softly.

“You’ll need to learn how to control it. That back there, it could have turned into something so much more serious. You were lucky that the guy ducked. You can’t go around throwing fireballs whenever you get angry.”

Tommy’s gaze turned to him. “Will you help me? Help me to control it?”

Adam could remember how scared he was when he first got his ability, and he had taken great comfort in having Marcus there to help him with it. Tommy needed someone like that, too, so he nodded.

“Thanks. And I really am sorry, Adam,” Tommy said.

“You can stop saying sorry now. Maybe it’ll scare him off coming on that strong again. He _was_ kind of an asshole,” Adam said, and Tommy agreed with a laugh.

Slinging his arm around Tommy’s shoulders, he walked him back to the car, smiling at the way Tommy pressed into him. He had definitely not expected their night out to go like this, but he had to admit that he was looking forward to helping Tommy control his newly found power. Tommy had helped him find the part of himself that had died when Kris had and he could finally give something back to Tommy that would stay with him forever, too.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

                                                        

 

 

The next morning, Adam tried to get into contact with Anna to tell her that Tommy did have an ability after all. He couldn’t get through to her, so he ran through his options of anyone else from the meetings he could call. He could call Marcus, but he didn’t really think he was ready to talk to him after their last conversation. Especially since it appeared that Marcus was right. He could call Morissey, but he wasn’t Adam’s favourite person in the slightest, and they were known for bickering until the point of whatever was meant to be said was forgotten. He could call one of the other people from the meetings who he didn’t really speak to much, but he didn’t trust all of them to pass on his message. That left only one other option: Sharlene.

He dialled her number quickly and sighed with relief when she answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Adam.”

“Oh, hey! How’s it been going?”

“Fine. Listen, I couldn’t get through to Anna, so I was hoping you could pass on the message,” he explained.

“Of course! What is it?”

“I know that Marcus must have told you all that Tommy didn’t have an ability, but he does now. Last night a fireball shot out of his hand. It was the first time it’s ever happened to him.”

“Wow, that sounds pretty dangerous. I mean, he’s gonna have to learn how to control it,” Sharlene said.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m gonna do. I mean, he could have really hurt that man and I’m not going to let it happen again.”

There was silence on the other end, and Adam frowned. “Are you okay? It isn’t like you to stop talking for this long.”

“Yeah. Can I ask you a question?”

“Umm, sure.”

“Where were you when this happened?” she asked, her voice dripping with suspicion. Adam was about to answer, when he remembered that he shouldn’t tell the truth. He wasn’t meant to be taking Tommy out of the house. He could have run away. Adam knew that he wouldn’t, but Sharlene didn’t know that and the others wouldn’t know that either if she told them.

“I was at home. Why?” he lied, and already he could tell that Sharlene would see through it.

“Stop lying, Adam. You said he could have hurt a man. You must have been in a public place,” she said accusingly.

Adam sighed, knowing that he couldn’t keep on lying. “Okay, we were at a club. But before you say anything, he wouldn’t run away from me.”

“How do you know?”

“He just wouldn’t. And he didn’t, did he? So, I was right to trust him.”

There was another pause. “Tell me about him.”

It reminded Adam of when Tommy had told him to tell him about Kris. Just like that time, the words weren’t expected. “What?”

“Tell me about him, Adam,” she repeated.

“Okay...he has blonde hair and he’s pretty tiny...”

“I can remember what he looks like, Adam. I mean tell me about what he does, what he likes. Stuff like that.”

“Oh. Umm, he’s into horror movies, and he likes watching vampire films because they make him laugh. He hides under his hair when he gets embarrassed and he scrunches up his nose when he laughs sometimes. He’s stubborn, but in a really cute way. I can say sarcastic stuff to him and I know that he’ll fire off one of his quick remarks back. He makes the most beautiful sounds on a guitar that I can’t even comprehend sometimes. He makes me full on belly laugh when he’s being silly. He’s smart and he’s fun and he’s probably the sweetest guy ever all at the same time.”

He realised he was smiling at the end of his mini speech, and he wondered if it could be heard in his voice. The truth was, he could have gone on and on about Tommy without even having to think.

“He’s good for you, isn’t he?” Sharlene asked.

“I guess so. It’s nice to have someone here all of the time again.”

“No, it’s more than that. I can hear it in your voice, Adam. You haven’t sounded like that since Kris died,” she said softly, as if worried she would upset him. It kind of _did_ annoy him that everyone was comparing Tommy to Kris. Although, he remembered how he had for a while. But it was different now. He knew that Tommy and Kris couldn’t actually be more different.

“I’m not in love with him,” he reminded her.

“Not yet.”

Adam blinked at the confidence in her words. Yeah, he was super attracted to Tommy and he loved being around him, but could he ever fall in love with him? He surprised himself by answering yes, he could. If he would only let himself, it would be so easy to love Tommy.

“Just admit it, Adam. You like him a _lot_ ,” Sharlene said.

Adam really could have hit himself for choosing to phone Sharlene. Even Morissey might have been better than this. “Okay, maybe I do like him a lot more than I should. But it doesn’t change anything at all.”

“Of course it does. If he makes you feel things that you haven’t felt since Kris, then you should go for it. You don’t know what will happen until you give it a go, right?” Sharlene encouraged, and Adam should have known this would be Sharlene’s reaction.

“I can’t just ‘give it a go’. Drogen will want him back, even more so when he finds out that Tommy has an ability now. I’ll kill his maker and he’ll never want to see me again. He’ll hate me, Shar, and it will hurt me that much more if I get any closer to him than I am right now,” he explained, closing his eyes at the thought of Tommy hating him.

“Then don’t go ahead with the plan. Wouldn’t you rather have Tommy than kill Drogen and have him hate you for it?”

Adam had never thought about that. He imagined if he did just that, let Drogen live his life and keep Tommy as his. But Drogen wouldn’t stop at that. He would fight to get Tommy back, he knew it. And what if Tommy didn’t even want to stay with him? Any attraction he might have for Adam didn’t mean that he wanted to be with him. Plus, he had wanted to get his revenge for years. He couldn’t just drop it now. He told Sharlene this.

“Damn, you kind of are in a mess, aren’t you? Maybe Tommy won’t hate you if you kill him?” she asked hopefully.

“How could he not?”

“Hmm, you could tell him what Drogen is really like. He might be able to see why you want to get revenge.”

“Shar, you know how hard it is to break the bond of a maker and his son. Even if the maker doesn’t really care about him.”

“I just want you to have that kind of happiness again. You deserve it after all you’ve been through,” she said.

“And I _am_ happy right now. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”

“Yeah. Now, go on. You’ve got a vamp to train,” she said in her usual cheery voice, and Adam laughed.

“Yeah, I have. Thanks. I do feel a little better now that I’ve talked it through with someone, actually,” he admitted.

“Anytime.”

Adam said goodbye and hung up, his resolve not to do anything about his attraction for Tommy strengthened. It would only make this mess of a situation even worse.

It was still morning, and Adam figured that it was best to have an early start with the training. He went up to what he now called Tommy’s room, hesitating before knocking lightly on the door. When he received no answer and he couldn’t hear Tommy moving around in there, he opened it a crack. Seeing that Tommy wasn’t in the middle of getting changed or anything, he opened it wider and walked inside.

He looked around the room in amusement. The guest room had been neat and with no personal possessions in there so that anybody could stay over. Now, there were clothes draped over the chair and Tommy’s guitar laying against the wall. When before it had looked like a hotel room, now it was filled with everything Tommy and Adam decided that he liked it so much more this way.

He looked towards the bed and saw a mound in the covers. He could just about make out the position Tommy was lying in, and it reminded him of a cat curled up into a ball. He walked closer, making sure to be quiet, until he was able to see the tuft of hair that was poking out of the covers. Adam lifted them so he could see Tommy’s face and he took the time to _really_ look at Tommy. It was something that he couldn’t do often, unless he wanted to look like a freaky pervert.

His gaze landed on the peaceful look on Tommy’s face as he slept, the way his eyelashes fanned out across his cheeks, the way his bottom lip stuck out a little. He took in the way his nose pointed up ever so slightly, the way his cheekbones looked almost sculpted and the way his hair was fluffed up on the pillow. He just let himself look, and he told himself that if he never saw Tommy again when the final part of the plan was put into action, he’d remember this moment.

Hating to take away the look of innocence on Tommy’s face but knowing he would have to, he gently shook him.

“Tommy. It’s time to wake up,” he whispered, shaking him again.

Tommy’s eyes fluttered open, and he looked taken aback that Adam was right there in his face. Adam stepped back a little to give Tommy some space, but Tommy just leaned towards him.

“You don’t usually wake me up,” he commented, stretching a little as he spoke.

“No, well, I wanted to get as much time in as possible for training, so I thought we could have an early start.”

Tommy nodded. “That sounds good. Just give me a minute to take a shower and everything.”

“Of course. I’ll be waiting downstairs,” Adam said.

Tommy got out from under the covers, walking towards the door before stopping and turning with a door on the handle. “You know, you don’t need makeup to look good. I quite like the clean look on you,” Tommy said with an appreciative look before he walked out.

Adam stood there for a moment, not expecting Tommy’s comment. Although, he hadn’t been expecting a lot of things that had been happening lately, and he wondered whether he should just go with the flow.

 

He was in the living room downstairs when Tommy came in, holding out a warm blood pack for him. Adam smiled gratefully and took a pull at the straw, his fangs coming out and nearly piercing it. Tommy drank from his own blood pack, and he looked more awake after a few gulps of the blood.

“So, what are we gonna start with?” he asked enthusiastically.

“I thought we could start with trying to hold your power back when you don’t want to use it. It will help when you get angry at something but don’t want to harm anyone.”

“That sounds cool,” Tommy said, reaching for Adam’s empty pack when he saw that he was finished and discarding it in the trash along with his own.

“Right. Now, you’ll have to think of something that gets you angry again. Something that will make you want to throw one of those fireballs.”

Tommy shut his eyes and was silent for a couple of minutes as he tried to do what Adam had said, but then he sighed and opened them again. “It’s not working.”

“Think of that night, then. If it got you that angry then, it should still get you pretty angry now.”

“Okay.”

Tommy closed his eyes again. Adam thought that it wasn’t going to work again until a fireball suddenly came blasting out of his hand and hit the ground. Tommy’s eyes shot open, and he bit his lip at the mess he had made of the floor. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure Rob or Carrie can come over and fix the burn. I should have prepared better anyway. I’ll have to get targets or something for next time.”

Tommy was still looking at the floor guiltily, so Adam put a finger under his chin to lift his head up. “It’s fine, okay? Now, you’ve got to try and hold that fire back. Can you feel that moment when the fire is bursting to get out?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the time that you’ve got to stop it. It will feel weird at first, like you’re pushing against a barrier in your body, but it will get easier each time you do it. Now, try again, but this time draw the fire back into yourself. I’ll go and get something that I don’t mind you burning,” Adam said.

When he came back with some old stuff that he had been intending to throw away anyway, he told Tommy to try it out. The first time, he couldn’t get a hold of the fire and it shot out of his hand again. The second and third time were the same, but the fourth time, he managed to make the fireball come out slower. Adam reassured Tommy that he would be able to pull it back fully if they worked on it enough while they took a break, but Tommy didn’t seem very convinced.

When they went back to work on it, it took many more tries before the fire flickered in Tommy’s hand before dying out. Adam watched as Tommy beamed and was determined now to stop the flame coming out entirely.

“I think we should stop for today. We’ve been working on it all day and you’re going to be too tired to carry on if we continue. I’m sure that tomorrow you’ll be able to do it completely, and then we can start on the harder stuff,” Adam told him.

“There’s harder stuff?”

“Yep. After a while of trying to hold back the power, it becomes easier to manage. More flexible, in a way. It’s the other stuff that takes more time to get the hang of.”

“Well, why can’t we go for a little while longer to get this done today? It isn’t that late,” Tommy said.

Adam pulled back the curtain, showing Tommy the darkness of the sky that told them it was night. Tommy’s eyes widened. “Wow. We’ve really been working at that all day?”

Adam nodded. “Yeah. And if you put any more of your energy into working on it, you’re gonna end up collapsing. So, I want you to drink some more blood and get to bed. You’ll need to be well rested for the rest of the training tomorrow.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “You really are a mother hen, aren’t you?”

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting anything happen to my chicken,” Adam joked, and Tommy shoved at him playfully before following Adam’s ‘orders’.

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

 

 

“How on earth did you do this?” Carrie asked as she looked down at the burn in the carpet.

“It was Tommy. His power is being able to throw fireballs from his hands, and I didn’t really prepare before I started training him,” Adam explained just as Tommy came walking in.

“I’d say sorry again, but I know you’d go mad at me,” he said with a smirk on his face, waving to Carrie and Rob as he passed and came to stand beside Adam.

“I see that someone’s finally learning,” Adam replied, chuckling at the glare Tommy shot at him. He turned back to his friends to see them watching the interaction with smiles.

“What?” Adam asked, almost immediately after wishing he hadn’t. He’d already heard Marcus and Sharlene talk to him about this thing he had with Tommy, he definitely didn’t need anyone else to point it out. Especially not when Tommy was in the room with them. Luckily, they just shook their heads with a knowing glance at each other and went back to the burn in the floor.

“Hmm, I think I know which spell this will need,” Rob murmured.

“The Hydrovin one?” Carrie guessed.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

They gave each other a mini high five in victory and then knelt down beside the burn. Adam could see the curious look in Tommy’s eyes, and he was sure he had looked like that when he had first saw Carrie and Rob do magic.

“How does it work? Like, do you have to learn the spells or are you born with it?” Tommy asked as he watched them hover their hands over the black spot.

“Both, really. All witches have a little bit of magic in their blood, but if you don’t learn any spells, you can’t use any of the magic. But people without the magic in their blood wouldn’t be able to perform any spells at all,” Rob said, his eyes trained on his hands.

Tommy nodded, going silent again and watching Carrie and Rob flex their fingers in a rhythm.

Adam may have watched them do magic before, but it always fascinated him. It was different from vampires with powers. Witches could do so much more if they only memorised the spell for it. Adam listened to them chant under their breath in perfect synchronisation. The spells were always different. Adam could remember them doing what resembled jazz hands once, and when he had asked them about it, they had just rolled their eyes and told him he _would_ think of something like that.

The blackness slowly trickled inwards as the hands above danced over it. Adam could hear a faint stirring in the air, which they had told him before was the magic fighting against nature. After a few minutes, the remaining blackness faded away until the carpet was as clear as it was before.

Carrie stood up straight when she was satisfied with the result, holding out a hand for Rob to take and laughing when he nearly pulled her down with him.

“And that’s how you do magic,” Rob said simply.

“Nice way to put it,” Adam said with a grin.

Tommy pouted. “I think I’d rather be a witch than a vampire now.”

Carrie snorted. “You get to have hot vampire sex. What could be better than that?”

Rob smacked her on the arm. “Hey! Witch sex is just as good!”

“Of course it is, honey,” she said before turning to Adam. “Now, if that’s all we should probably get going. You’ll want to get as much training in as possible, I’m sure.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you out,” Adam said.

He followed them out and waved to them, laughing when he could hear them bickering playfully over who was better to have sex with.

“What are you laughing at?” Tommy asked when he walked back in.

“They are the like the best couple ever in a totally weird way.”

Tommy smiled. “They’re in love. It’s cute.”

“Yeah. I’d like that one day,” Adam murmured, thinking about what he had had with Kris. They had been good together, no doubt about that, and they were in love. But it wasn’t quite the same as what Carrie and Rob had. They weren’t that madly in love yet. But he didn’t know now whether they ever would have been.

He suddenly clapped his hands, making Tommy near enough jump out of his skin. “Right. Training time!”

Tommy groaned. “You know that I’m kinda dreading this?”

 “I’m offended!”

“Not because of you being the one training me. I just don’t feel like I can do it,” Tommy complained.

“Tommy, you did so well yesterday. I _know_ you can do it.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” Tommy grumbled.

Adam put a hand on Tommy’s shoulder and bent his head until they were eye level with each other. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said quietly.

He found himself unable to pull his gaze away from Tommy’s, and it felt like electricity prickled over his skin when he looked into the light in Tommy’s eyes. It almost felt like he could see right through them into Tommy’s soul. He saw his vulnerability and that fire that had been there from the start at the same time. His eyes travelled down to Tommy’s lips, which parted at his gaze and made lust burn through him, before moving back up Tommy’s face. Tommy didn’t break eye contact either, and they stood there watching each other for a few moments before Tommy broke the charged silence.

“No one’s ever really believed in me before,” Tommy said thoughtfully, and Adam’s still heart clenched in his chest. It made Adam want to be the one that Tommy knew would always believe in him. He realised that he wanted to be so many things for Tommy. Some of the things were stuff that he couldn’t ever really be. Not if he went ahead with not acting on these feelings, anyway.

“Well, you better get used to it, I guess,” Adam said, making Tommy smile gently.

“Thank you. For this, for helping me control the power.”

“No problem. We should get started. Now, remember how to pull the heat back into yourself?”

Tommy nodded, his eyes slipping shut in concentration as he went back to his angry thoughts and tried to pull against the fire that was itching to get through his skin.

Adam watched as a fireball came shooting out of his hand almost immediately. Tommy sighed in irritation, but Adam stepped behind him and put his arm over Tommy’s to make sure that he didn’t drop it from its position.

“Don’t just give up. You can do it,” he said, waiting for Tommy to close his eyes again before rubbing his hand up Tommy’s arm slowly, reminding him to pull the heat back from his skin and hoping it would relax him somewhat. When he put his hand over Tommy’s, so that their palms were facing each other, Tommy opened his eyes and pulled back.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“It will help, knowing that it could hurt someone if you let it out. That’s what should be on your mind when you want to stop it from happening. And if your mind links you not wanting to hurt somebody to stopping the fire from getting out, then whenever you think that, you’ll automatically pull it back within yourself. Like a reflex to that thought.”

Tommy frowned. “Okay, I get that, but what if I _do_ hurt you?”

Adam smiled. “That’s what you’re meant to think about. If you not wanting to hurt me is strong enough, it should make you pull the fire in before it can get out.”

Tommy still looked hesitant, but he carefully placed his hand palm to palm with Adam’s again. This time, instead of closing his eyes, he focused on their hands. Adam did too, almost distracted by how well their hands fit together. He had an urge to curl his fingers in, entwine them with Tommy’s. It was stupid, but he just wanted to see if they would fit as well together when they were joined. To see if it would be as good as how they looked palm to palm. He wondered if it only looked good because they weren’t entwined together, if it would be a tangled mess if they took it any further. When he realised that he was no longer thinking about their hands but of their relationship, he backed away from the thoughts.

That was also when he noticed that he had been thinking for some time. And he hadn’t even felt the ghost of heat flare across his skin. He looked down at Tommy, whose fingers had curled just a little bit inwards, like he was having the same thoughts as Adam. Although he was sure that Tommy wasn’t thinking of their hands in connection to their relationship, he pulled his hand away just in case.

Tommy’s smile turned to a grin when he looked at Adam. “It worked.”

“Told you it would,” Adam said smugly.

“Okay, Mr Know It All. What’s next?”

“I want you to try it one more time, but without me having to touch your hand. The instinct should be there now, but you’ll still have to do a little work at pulling the fire back because the danger isn’t right _there_ for you to see this time.”

Tommy nodded, closing his eyes and stretching out his arm. Adam stood there beside him, waiting for a couple of minutes, and when nothing came out of Tommy’s hand, he bounced on his heels.

“You can do it! So, do you want to start with the other stuff now, or tomorrow?”

“I think it would be better if we started now. I mean, if I’m on a lucky streak...”

“Oh, shut up! You totally just owned that,” Adam said, and when it didn’t look as though Tommy was going to answer, he continued. “Right, now what I want you to try and do is push the fire out. But you can’t do it by thinking of something that makes you angry. The whole point of it is so that you can defend yourself with a fireball even if you aren’t angry.”

“How the hell do I do that?”

“You have to find the fire inside of you. It’s somewhere deep down, but if you can access it and use it whenever you want, you have more control over it.”

“Will it look like...actual fire? How will I know when I’ve found it?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, you’ll know. Don’t worry about that. Now what you need to do is focus on you and only you. Don’t think about anything but trying to find that fire inside of you. You’ll have to search within yourself to find it,” Adam explained.

Tommy still looked confused, but he closed his eyes and stayed silent as he did what Adam had told him to. A piece of his hair fell into his face, fluttering at every breath Tommy took, and Adam’s hands itched to tuck it back into place. But he knew that he would distract Tommy, so he kept his hands to himself.

After a while, Tommy let out a frustrated sigh and opened his eyes again. “I can’t do it. It’s not anywhere.”

Adam put his hands on Tommy’s shoulders, making him face him. “It’s there. Trust me. You just need to delve deeper inside yourself to find it.”

Tommy shook his head. “I can’t see anything.”

“But you _will_. The first time I met you, I could see that fire inside of you. It comes out in your personality all of the time. It’s part of you.”

Tommy frowned, but tried again. Adam realised that his hands were still on Tommy’s shoulders, but he didn’t want to move them in case it made Tommy lose focus, so he kept them there.

He could feel Tommy’s warmth under his hands, and he noticed that Tommy ran a little hotter than most of their kind. Vampires weren’t icy cold like many believed, but their skin was cool to the touch unless they had recently fed. He guessed that it was the fire that Tommy held inside of him that made his skin warm, and he wondered what it would be like to have that warm body under him. It had been a while since he had someone that close to him, and even longer that he had had a warm body to curl up next to. He imagined running his hands over the warm skin, tracing the lines and curves of Tommy’s body with his tongue, and how Tommy might taste in his mouth. He imagined Tommy’s hair fanning out on the pillow, his head thrown back so Adam could see the pale column of his neck, his legs wrapping around Adam to pull him closer. Adam felt an echo of a throb in his dick, and he was grateful that he hadn’t had any blood in a while. He knew that if he had, he would have been sporting an epic boner right around now.

He heard Tommy gasp, and wished that his mind didn’t put that sound in a completely different scenario. When he looked at him after gathering his dirty thoughts, he saw that Tommy’s face was blank, not frowning like it was the last time Adam had looked at him. It looked like he was searching, testing, and he wondered what Tommy was seeing, because it was obvious that he was seeing _something._

“It’s there,” Tommy breathed, breaking the silence.

“Where?”

Tommy shook his head slowly, his eyes still closed. “I can’t explain it. But I can just see it in my mind. It’s weird.”

“What does it look like?” Adam asked.

“It’s...like a giant ball of fire, I guess. I can almost feel the heat coming off of it.”

Adam nodded, knowing that Tommy had gone deep enough within himself. “Open your eyes, Tommy,” he said quietly. He could smell Tommy’s excitement in the air, and he hoped that finding the power in him on his own might have given him a little more confidence in what he was about to get him to do.

Tommy’s eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at Adam while he waited for him to tell him what to do next. Adam’s breath caught a little at the intensity of Tommy’s gaze and, though he looked away from them, the feel of Tommy’s eyes on him still got under his skin. He felt almost bare, like Tommy was seeing straight through him, and he tried to talk in an effort to lose that feeling.

“Right, now you’re gonna have to try and draw some of that power out of you. Just try and take hold of some of it and push it out,” Adam said.

He watched as Tommy concentrated hard, a line appearing between his brows and his eyes going unfocused. He just stood there, stock still, and Adam was content with watching him while he waited. Hell, he’d be happy to watch Tommy all day if he had to. Tommy was one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen.

Adam realised that he was more or less acting like a teenage girl with a crush, but as long as he didn’t do anything about his feelings he guessed that it was okay for him to still think about Tommy in those ways. He’d tried to stop thinking inappropriately about Tommy, and it just wasn’t working. So, even if he did feel kind of guilty for thinking about who was meant to be his friend in that way, he decided that he could fantasize all he wanted. As long as it stayed a fantasy in his head and didn’t cross over into reality, he was fine.

“I can’t seem to get hold of any of it. It’s like...it’s repelling me,” Tommy said quietly.

“It will. It doesn’t want to be controlled. But it can be. Try again,” Adam encouraged.

He talked Tommy through how to push against the resistance he was meeting and bend his ability to his own will. He watched Tommy try again and again, never giving up until finally a blast of heat shot out of his hand.

“I thought you said this would be harder than pulling the fire back?” Tommy asked, his head tilting up to meet Adam’s.

“It was, wasn’t it?”

“Well, yeah. But this didn’t take as long as it did then, even though it was harder.”

“That’s because your ability is getting used to the control you have over it. You’ll see that, even though the things I get you to do are harder, it won’t take so much time for you to master. In the end you’ll be working with it, instead of working against it,” Adam said.

Tommy nodded. “That it for tonight, then?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have an early night. You can stay up if you want,” Adam offered.

“No, that’s okay. I’m pretty tired, too.”

Adam led the way up the stairs, turning back around when he heard a groan from behind him. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Tommy nodded, although the grimace on his face told a different story. Adam rolled his eyes pointedly, waiting until Tommy gave him a proper answer.

“I’m just aching a little. It’s fine. It’ll be gone by morning,” Tommy insisted.

Adam frowned. “Have I been overworking you?”

“No, honestly, it’s fine.”

“It’s obviously not if you’re wincing in pain. I should have known that this training would take some out of you physically, too,” Adam mused, stepping back down the stairs until he was on Tommy’s level. “Where is it aching?”

Tommy sighed, but gestured vaguely to his shoulders. Adam reached out a hand and brought it down on Tommy’s shoulder, rotating his thumb in a circular motion in an effort to ease the pain. He wished he hadn’t done it when Tommy closed his eyes and let out a long drawn out moan, waking up parts of Adam’s body that he hadn’t wanted to wake.

“Feel any better?” Adam asked, more or less breathing down Tommy’s neck. He bit his lip when Tommy pressed his ass back until it bumped into his dick.

“Much better,” Tommy breathed. His hair tickled Adam’s chin, and when Tommy looked up at him with eyes that promised a thousand things, Adam knew that if he took it any further something would happen that he promised wouldn’t, so he took his hand off Tommy’s shoulder and guided him up the stairs.

“You should take a bath. It will help take away the achiness in your muscles.”

Tommy shot a sad smile Adam’s way as he climbed the stairs, almost as if he knew that he wasn’t going to let what they could have happen, no matter how many times they came close to it. But Adam knew that he couldn’t take the risk. Not when Tommy could potentially have all of the power to break Adam’s heart.

He found Tommy a fluffy towel for him to use and told him to use all the bubble bath he wanted. When he had everything he needed, Tommy paused before he shut the door to the bathroom behind himself. “You’re a really good teacher, Adam.”

“Thanks. You’re a pretty good student.”

Tommy flashed a half smile at him, nowhere near as bright as the ones he usually gave Adam, and he wondered whether this was getting to Tommy as much as it was him. Adam ran a hand over his face, walking into his bedroom and face planting on the bed with a muffled groan. It was getting harder and harder to resist Tommy every day, even when he told himself he could do it. He just didn’t know how much longer he _could_ resist.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

                                                                

 

 

When Adam got up early the next day, he padded down the stairs, intent on getting some time alone before Tommy woke up so he could clear his head. The night before was still clear in his mind, and his mind wouldn’t stop supplying him with images of what might have happened if he hadn’t have backed off.

He knew that if he was just attracted to Tommy and wanted to fuck him, his head wouldn’t have been such a mess. But no, on top of wanting to have that body under him, he found himself being just as attracted to Tommy as a person.

He had went over and over his conversation with Marcus and Sharlene the other night, and now he just needed to let it go if he had any chance of keeping his mind on training Tommy today.

So, when he stepped into the living room and found Tommy sitting there already, he was a little surprised, but he couldn’t bring himself to be disappointed. Tommy’s presence just wouldn’t allow for that.

“Hey,” Tommy greeted.

Adam smiled, taking a seat on the far end of the couch Tommy was sitting on. He frowned when he saw that the television wasn’t on like it usually was when Tommy was up earlier than him, and guessed that he had just been sitting there doing nothing, which was unlike him. Tommy always found something to do.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked.

Tommy nodded, his legs tucked up off the floor and chin resting on his knees. His eyes had a faraway look, and Adam was wondering whether he had interrupted Tommy’s own alone time when he spoke.

“No, actually,” Tommy said softly.

Adam bit his lip, unsure of what to say. He hadn’t ever seen Tommy like this. He stayed silent until he couldn’t bear it any longer. He shifted closer, sliding his hands over Tommy’s. He noticed the way Tommy flinched slightly at his touch, but ignored it. “I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me anything.”

Tommy sighed, his eyes fixed on his lap. “I just...feel really bad about last night. It shouldn’t have happened. I didn’t mean to...”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Adam said, cupping Tommy’s chin in his hand and lifting his face up when Tommy didn’t respond. “Nothing happened. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“I made you uncomfortable. I don’t want anything to be awkward between us because of that.”

“It’s not going to be awkward. And, I may have backed off, but you definitely didn’t make me uncomfortable, Tommy,” Adam said, the tone of his voice at the end of the sentence echoing through the air.

Tommy’s eyes flicked up to meet his, his chin still cupped in Adam’s hand. “Really?”

“Really.”

Tommy’s face was inches from Adam’s, and Adam knew that all he had to do was lean in and press his lips against Tommy’s, and he’d have what his body had been aching for. Instead, he stayed right there, Tommy’s skin heating up his fingertips until he knew that he had to pull back.

“I’ll get us some blood. You’ll need your strength,” Adam said, escaping as quickly as he could into the kitchen. He busied himself with putting the packs in the microwave, leaning on the counter and taking deep breaths through his nose while he waited. When a ding from the microwave told him he couldn’t hide away in the kitchen any longer, he grabbed the blood packs and returned to the living room, finding Tommy looking thoughtfully at the picture of Kris he had up.

“I have good taste, don’t I?”

Tommy smiled and nodded, taking one of the packs from Adam and piercing it with the straw. “Have you been with anyone, you know, since...?” Tommy shut his eyes and shook his head quickly. “I’m sorry. It isn’t any of my business. You don’t need to answer that.”

Adam blinked at the unexpected question. They’d never really talked about relationships before. Well, Adam had told him about Kris but he didn’t go into too much depth. He sucked up some blood, sighing as the tangy flavour hit his tongue before answering. “You know what; you can let me be the judge of what I’m willing to share with you. And to answer your question, no, I haven’t been with anyone since Kris.”

Tommy nodded, pursing his lips. “Is it because you’d feel guilty or something?”

“No, it’s not that. And it’s not like I haven’t found other men attractive since Kris. It’s just, I haven’t found anyone who could make me feel like he could,” Adam said, and he wasn’t lying. Tommy didn’t make him feel like Kris did. It was different in all kinds of ways, although Adam was sure it could be just as strong.

Adam gulped down a mouthful of blood, feeling the warmth spread through his body. He glanced up at Tommy, eyeing the pointed ends of his fangs. He imagined what they would feel like grazing over his skin and sinking into him. He had sometimes liked getting bitten just as he was reaching his climax. Kris had liked the taste of his blood, something which Adam had been curious about. He had only ever tasted human blood before Kris, and he’d wondered how vampire blood would be different. Kris had let Adam drink from him numerous times after he had expressed his curiosity, and he had found that he liked it, too. It didn’t fill him up or satisfy his need for blood like human blood did, but it did taste delicious and took his pleasure to the next level.

Kris had told him that every vampire’s blood supposedly tasted different, much like human blood did. But Adam had only ever drunk from Kris. He wondered what Tommy might taste like, and if he’d want to drink Adam’s blood, too.

Too late, he realised that he was openly staring at Tommy’s neck. He tore his gaze away, noticing that Tommy was looking at him with a puzzled look on his face. Adam sucked up the last bit of his blood, watching Tommy do the same out of the corner of his eye.

After finishing their packs and cleaning up, Adam turned to Tommy, ready to tell him what he was going to have him do next for their training session.

“What we’re gonna do today is try and get you to measure how much of your power you’re using. Sometimes, you might not want to use a full blast of fire. You might just want to send out a little flame to scare someone off. So, instead of just grabbing a handful and throwing it out there, I want you to control how much you send out,” Adam explained.

Tommy groaned. “This is gonna be another of those things that takes hours to master, isn’t it?”

“Actually, no. Remember what I said the other night, about your power being easier to control the more we do this? Well, this is gonna show you what I meant by that.”

Tommy eyed him sceptically, but nodded. “Okay, so how do I do it?”

“First, you’ve gotta find that power within yourself again.”

He watched as Tommy’s eyes slipped closed and he instantly went still, staying silent and rigid until his shoulders slumped and he exhaled quietly.

“Found it?” Adam asked, waiting for Tommy to nod before continuing. “Now I want you to try and only get hold of a little bit of it, the smallest you can get.”

Tommy pursed his lips slightly as he focused, and Adam felt an urge to outline those lips with his finger that he had to tamper down. It was getting crazy how every little thing that Tommy did was getting to him. He almost wished that someone else had had Tommy stay with them so that he would only be the pawn in the plan like he was meant to be. As soon as he thought that, though, he took it back. Tommy had brought something into his life he would never forget, and he couldn’t ask for that to be taken away. No matter how hard it was.

“Damn, this is hard,” Tommy muttered under his breath, drawing Adam’s attention.

“Well, maybe it will be easier if we start out big first,” Adam suggested.

“Okay.”

Within seconds, the biggest fireball Adam had ever seen Tommy make went soaring through the air. Adam chuckled at Tommy’s wide eyes.

“Think that’s the biggest you can do?”

“Looks like it. So, what, now I can try and do smaller fireballs?”

“Yeah, it looks like the bigger the fireball the easier it is for you to get a hold of it. Which makes sense, your ability will be more willing to send out bigger fireballs to protect you,” Adam said.

He waited silently while Tommy grappled against the resistance of his power, a line forming between his brows every now and then as he struggled with it. Adam was about to try and help if he could, because moving to a slightly smaller fireball really shouldn’t be taking that long, when Tommy let out a wisp of smoke from the palm of his hand. Adam blinked in surprise, not expecting Tommy to go straight for the smallest amount of power he could let out.

“Wow, that was really good.”

Tommy grinned. “That is definitely the smallest I can do. And you’re right. It is a little easier, like I have more control over it.”

Adam had Tommy vary the amounts of power he let out over the next couple of hours, until he was certain that Tommy could send out a range of different fireballs. The more Tommy worked, the easier it seemed to be for him to take on any task Adam gave him, so Adam decided to teach him something that he was originally going to show him the next day.

When Adam started moving the targets he had snagged from some vampire acquaintances into the living room, Tommy bit his lip. “I can’t even throw a ball in the right direction. How am I gonna throw a fireball at a target?”

“That’s why I’m here. To teach you. And I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that this is the last thing you need to know. You won’t need any more training sessions after this.”

“Oh,” Tommy said, and Adam was sure that he could detect a hint of sadness there. What he wasn’t sure of was why, though. He thought Tommy would like a well deserved rest from training every day.

“I mean, you’ll still have to use your ability every now and then to keep it in control and work up your skill with it, but other than that, you’re good.”

“You’ll still like, help me with it, though, right?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah, of course. That’s what I’m here for.”

Tommy smirked. “Gotta use you for your knowledge while I still can, eh?”

“Damn, I knew you were just using me,” Adam joked, straightening out the targets that he had just lined up.

“Right, so how do I start?”

“First, you need to get in the right position. Stand a little away from one of the targets,” Adam said, waiting until Tommy did as he said before standing behind him, nudging his feet a little wider. “You need to balance your weight evenly so that if you _are_ in a fight, an attacker won’t be able to knock you down so easily. Also, it’s useful to have one foot slightly in front of the other. That way, you can lean forward and exert any power you want to put into the attack.”

Tommy stretched his right leg out in front of him, leaning forward on it. Adam leaned over until he was almost draped across his back, his fingers sliding down Tommy’s arm, reaching for his hand and directing it at the target. “Your arm needs to be straight out when you go to attack, so that it goes where it’s meant to. If it’s bent, it can go in the wrong direction, which is only useful if you want a good strategy to trick someone.”

Tommy turned his head, and Adam could tell that he was surprised at how close Adam was. He swallowed hard before speaking. “How am I gonna remember all of this?”

Adam wet his lips, feeling Tommy’s gaze follow his movement. “With enough practise, it will come as second nature. Now, when aiming, you need to keep your eyes on the target. You’ve gotta make sure not to lost focus,” he said, and he was glad that he wasn’t the one who had to do it, because how close Tommy was to him, he was sure that he wouldn’t have been able to focus at all, which seemed to be what was going through Tommy’s mind at the moment.

With a little shake of his head, Tommy narrowed his eyes on the target and adjusted his weight, making Adam muffle a moan when Tommy brushed against his dick accidently. He thought he could hear a quiet laugh, and when he turned to Tommy, sure enough, a smile was dancing across his lips. Adam smirked back. Two could play at this game.

Adam managed to catch sight of the fire hitting the target, although it was way too far to the left to hit the bulls-eye.

“Do it again, but try and hit the middle this time,” Adam whispered into Tommy’s neck, grinning when he heard Tommy’s breathing speed up. He had never imagined that he could affect Tommy the same way that Tommy was affecting him, but it seemed to be true.

He listened as Tommy took a deep breath, steadied himself and hit the target with a blast of fire. Adam peeked around Tommy’s shoulder to see if he had hit the bulls-eye, finding that he had just about missed this time.

“Wanna go again?” Adam asked, deliberately moving closer so that his lips barely brushed against the skin of Tommy’s neck as he spoke.

Tommy made a vague sound of agreement, and Adam wondered what he would sound like if he tried to speak now. Instead of leaning forward on his right foot, Tommy leaned back, his body melting into Adam’s. Adam could feel Tommy’s heat all along his front, and he bit his lip in an effort to not show any reaction to the pretty boy practically folded into him. Tommy tilted his head up to look at him with a growing smirk, his head resting on Adam’s shoulder.

“You okay, Adam? You feel a little...tense.”

Adam faked a smile. “I’m fine.”

Tommy nodded smugly, obviously not believing him, and turned back to the target. Adam sighed quietly. Tommy played good, but Adam didn’t give up without a fight. Just as Tommy was about to throw the fireball, Adam let his hand drop down and rest on Tommy’s hip, causing him to still in his movements.

“You okay, Tommy? You feel a little...stiff.”

Tommy tossed his head up to Adam with a knowing look. “I’m fine.”

He turned his attention back to what he was doing, leaning even more into Adam until he was sure he was the only thing keeping Tommy up. He threw a fireball quickly at the target, hitting it dead in the centre. With a grin that could light up a room, Tommy turned back to Adam.

“What now?”

“You seem to have gotten the hang of aiming, so we should have some more blood to keep our strength up, and then we can have a practise fight if you want. Put all of the skills I’ve shown you into action.”

Tommy took a step forward, taking his weight off Adam’s front and stretching his arms above his head. Adam caught sight of a flash of pale white skin as his shirt rode up, and he knew that Tommy was just testing him for his reaction again. He very deliberately looked away, marching into the kitchen with a determination not to think of anything but the blood that he was getting for them. No, he wasn’t thinking at all about the way Tommy’s body felt against him, or how his skin looked so smooth, not at all.

After they’d finished their drinks, Adam crept back into a defensive stance, indicating that he was ready to start their practise fight.

“Wait,” Tommy said suddenly.

“What?”

“What if I hurt you?”

Adam smiled. “You won’t, not if you only throw the smallest amount of power you have at me.”

“But what if I _do_ hurt you?”

“Don’t think about that. Think about this as an actual fight. You _want_ to hurt me.”

Tommy worried his lip with his teeth. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Now, get into your position,” Adam instructed.

Tommy hesitated for a second before getting himself positioned in the right place.

Adam held up his fingers as he counted down. “Ready, set, go.”

Adam made the first move, launching at Tommy with all of his force, making sure to direct it so that Tommy stumbled against the couch and didn’t hurt himself. Tommy quickly dodged Adam’s next launch at him, spinning around so fast that it confused Adam for a moment before he appeared behind him, a wisp of smoke directed at his back. Adam turned around, noticed the smoke and ducked to avoid it, making Tommy curse and dart to the other side of the room to get away from Adam.

Adam quickly changed direction, coming at Tommy suddenly when he wasn’t looking. Instead of giving out a blow, which he would have done if it was a normal fight, he wrapped his arms around Tommy’s waist, pulling him down to the ground with him. Tommy let out a little yelp as he hit the ground, Adam’s arms under him as a protective cushion.

“Surrender?” Adam asked from above him.

Tommy cocked his head to the side as if he was considering it, before shaking his head and wriggling about, sliding out from underneath Adam and leaping up, throwing a bigger cloud of smoke over his shoulder. It hit Adam in the face, making him splutter and choke for a minute. He heard Tommy’s playful laugh somewhere near him, not being able to see through the smoke, and followed the sound as best as he could. His hands closed over a wrist and he pulled on it gently, sending Tommy crashing into him, knocking him back a few steps.

“Gotcha,” he whispered into Tommy’s ear.

“I don’t think so,” Tommy replied, ducking out of Adam’s grip and running in the opposite direction. Adam chased after him, grinning when Tommy was too slow and he was able to tug Tommy down again, Adam landing on top of him with an ‘oomph’.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked, scrambling up to lean on his forearms so that his weight wasn’t resting on Tommy.

“I’m great,” Tommy said, panting and out of breath but still smiling happily.

“So, you surrender this time?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. What if I don’t want to surrender?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’d just have to find a way up and we’d have to go for it again, wouldn’t we?”

“And you’re so sure I can’t get you to surrender while we’re like this?”

Adam bit his lip, his dick throbbing when he took in what Tommy’s words could mean and smelt how much he wanted it. This was going too far beyond the line he had drawn himself, but he found that he didn’t actually care. It felt too damn good to care about anything other than what Tommy was making him feel. “Not unless I beat you to it.”

Tommy’s eyes flashed with desire, and Adam openly groaned and rolled his hips down to meet Tommy’s in reaction. His eyes widened when he realised what he had done, but he looked back to see that Tommy’s eyes had closed and it was evident that he was enjoying this just as much as Adam was.

Adam leaned down until his face was close to Tommy’s and they were sharing the same breaths. “Open your eyes.”

Tommy did, his breath stuttering when he saw how close Adam was. His lips parted, and all Adam wanted to do was touch them with his own lips. So that’s what he did. He ignored his subconscious telling him of all the reasons why he shouldn’t be doing this and pressed his lips against Tommy’s. Their lips moved against each other before Tommy opened his mouth, inviting Adam in. Adam swept his tongue inside of Tommy’s mouth, moaning whenever Tommy’s tongue brushed against his. His hands slid up Tommy’s shirt, and his sigh was lost in Tommy’s mouth when he touched soft skin.

Tommy had put his hands on his shoulders, and Adam realised that he was trying to push him away. Adam pulled his mouth away from Tommy’s immediately, hoping that Tommy wasn’t having any second thoughts. The way his cheeks were flushed the most beautiful colour Adam had ever seen and the dark look in his eyes told otherwise, though.

“Clothes off,” Tommy muttered, pulling at Adam’s shirt desperately. Adam chuckled and pulled the shirt over his head, Tommy lifting up and letting him take his off, too. Adam tried to kiss Tommy again, but Tommy stopped him.

“Everything off. Don’t wanna stop to take clothes off later.”

Adam grumbled that Tommy was gonna be the death of him, before stripping off his jeans and doing the same to Tommy’s, pausing when he saw Tommy’s cock right in front of him.

“Umm, a picture would last longer,” Tommy interrupted his staring, and he blushed, sliding up Tommy’s body to kiss the newly exposed skin of his chest.

“I may have to take you up on that. Bedroom?” Adam asked, waiting for Tommy’s quick nod before standing up and tugging him up off the floor. They stumbled up the stairs together, proving that touching while trying to walk wasn’t a good idea. When they finally got into Adam’s bedroom, Tommy flopped down on the bed, gesturing for Adam to join him. Adam gave an appreciative once over of Tommy on his bed before crawling on top of him, going straight for Tommy’s hipbone and sucking out a mark there, shivering at Tommy’s moan for more. He went further down and licked a wet stripe up the side of Tommy’s cock, causing his legs to spread wide enough to give Adam room.

“You want more?” he asked, pressing a small kiss on the inside of Tommy’s thighs, flicking his tongue out to give a lick to the salty skin in front of him.

“Fucking stupid question,” Tommy muttered, his hands finding Adam’s head and guiding it to his cock, groaning when Adam closed his mouth over him and swirled his tongue around the head. Adam moved the hand that wasn’t holding his hips down to Tommy’s hole, circling it slowly until Tommy tried to push back on his finger. He pulled off Tommy’s dick, stroking up the side of Tommy’s leg when he huffed.

“Lube’s in that cupboard, first drawer,” he said, and he wondered why he even brought new lube after Kris had died. It was probably because he was hoping he’d find someone again, someone who he didn’t just want to fuck. He’d all but given up hope on finding that someone until Tommy had came into his life.

He jumped when lube was tossed at him, and he shook his head at himself for thinking so much when he was finally getting to have sex with Tommy. He squeezed some of the lube onto his fingers, attempting to warm it up and then circled Tommy’s hole again. It wasn’t long before he had three fingers in Tommy, who took them surprisingly easy. When Adam was done teasing him with his fingers, he lined himself up, pushing into Tommy slowly. It was almost torture, but he managed to not lose his control. It wasn’t until Tommy whined for him to go faster that he started thrusting in and out of Tommy, watching his back arch whenever he hit his prostate.

Adam was almost reaching his climax when he stopped, pulling out and flipping Tommy over onto his stomach, shifting a pillow under his hips before sliding easily back inside him. His body covered Tommy’s as he grinded into him, and, just as he was about to come, his fangs came out in response to the pleasure and Tommy’s blood being so near. He nipped up Tommy’s neck, sniffing and finding the perfect place to bite. He let his fangs scrape across Tommy neck, then bit down, shuddering as his orgasm came and Tommy’s sweet blood filled his mouth.

As he sucked his blood down, he felt Tommy come undone underneath him. He let himself slip out of Tommy and pulled his mouth away from his neck, breathing hot air over it to close the wound. Tommy turned his head for a kiss, and Adam hesitated, not sure how Tommy would feel about kissing him with his own blood in Adam’s mouth. But Tommy just grabbed the back of Adam’s neck and pulled him closer, humming into Adam’s mouth when he tasted his blood there. Adam felt him lick deeper into his mouth, gathering more of the blood on his tongue and giving Adam more of a taste when their tongues danced around each other.

Adam finally found the will to pull away and get up, coming back with a cloth to clean them both up. He took his time when cleaning Tommy down, making sure to get every bit of come and blood that he could before he took the cloth back into the bathroom. He came back to find Tommy under the covers with a sated smile on his face. Adam climbed in with him, smiling at the blonde head on the pillow. He reached over to switch off the lamp and was nearly asleep when he heard Tommy murmur something quietly.

“Donkey dick.”

Adam lifted his head off the pillow to look at Tommy. “What?”

“That’s what I should call you now. Donkey dick.”

Adam snorted, lying his head back down on the pillow, getting to sleep without any more interruptions from Tommy.

 

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

                                                                   

 

 

When Adam woke up, he kept his eyes closed, remembering the night before. Sure, all of those reasons for not getting more involved with Tommy were still true, but he could find ways around them. Tommy was worth the risks.

He sat up, rubbing at his eyes and looking over to where Tommy was lying beside him. Correction, where Tommy _should_ have been lying beside him. He told himself not to panic, that Tommy getting up before him and going off didn’t mean that he was freaking out over what had happened.

He quickly got dressed, realising that there was a sound coming from the guest room. He followed the noise and found Tommy sitting there on the bed, cross legged and playing his guitar. He looked up when Adam came in and instantly stopped.

“That was good. Was it yours?”

Tommy shrugged, not meeting Adam’s eyes. “Just something I made up.”

Adam was silent for a moment before sitting down beside Tommy, taking the guitar from his lap and resting it gently on the bed. “You’re freaking out,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

Tommy lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “It’s just so wrong. I mean, you want to hurt my maker. It’s like I’m betraying him.”

“Do you want me, Tommy?”

Tommy glanced at him. “Yes.”

“Then this can’t be wrong. If we want each other, nothing should be stopping us from being together.”

“You want to...be with me?” Tommy asked, and Adam rolled his eyes.

“Of course I do. What happened last night wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t want to be with you.”

“Well, if we do give what we have a go, I don’t want any secrets. I want you to tell me what your plan is,” Tommy said.

“Are you sure? You might not like what you hear.”

Tommy nodded. “I want the truth.”

“Okay. Remember when I told you Kris was murdered?”

“Yeah.”

“It was Drogen who killed him. Kris had this ability, it was a shield. It could protect against almost any other power there was, and Drogen wanted it. As you know, whenever a vampire kills another, they get their ability. That’s what he did,” Adam said, giving Tommy time to process the information. He looked shocked, his mouth opening and closing without any sound coming out. Finally, he seemed to give up and just looked at Adam to continue. “Drogen doesn’t let that shield down now that he’s got it. He has many other powers from other vampires he’s killed, but he’s never learned how to use them.”

Tommy frowned. “How will you hurt him, then, if he never lets the shield down?”

“Well, we have this meeting group. The whole point of it is to stop other vampires from taking power. Drogen’s actions have been slowly leading up to this, and we knew we had to do something. I took the opportunity to get my revenge. Now, Drogen’s been building up an army of vampires he’s created to threaten other vampires and to fight for him. I was sure that if I took one of the members of this army, he would want them back, knowing each individual would be crucial to his rise to power. I gave him a letter, telling him that if he wanted that person back, he would have to drop his shield and fight with me. I would have a good chance of winning and killing him, because he doesn’t know how to use his powers to his advantage. Whereas, although I don’t have any defensive powers, I have been trained in fighting.”

“You want to kill him?”

“Yes. I know that must be hard for you to hear, but surely you can see why I have to do this,” Adam said.

“I can see why you’d want to, but I don’t see why you have to. You’re not a killer, Adam.”

Adam shook his head. “I don’t see it as killing, not really. He doesn’t deserve life.”

“You’d still be taking a life, no matter what you say. Just, reconsider, please?” Tommy all but begged, and Adam found it so hard to say no to that face. But he had to.

“I’m sticking to the plan.”

Tommy closed his eyes for a moment, sighed and nodded. It was quiet until Tommy opened his eyes and spoke again. “Wait a minute, are you implying that I’m part of this army?”

“Yeah, you are. You may not know it, but you are. He’s just using you. I’m so sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but it’s true. You need to know.”

Tommy stood up suddenly and started to pace the floor. “No, it isn’t true. You might believe that, but he loves us.”

“Tommy, please, just see the truth. He hasn’t given word that he wants you back yet because you didn’t have a power when you left him.”

“Stop it. Listen, I understand why you hate him, I would if I were in your shoes, but you have to see this from my point of view for a minute. I know what Drogen did was wrong, but imagine if it was Marcus we were talking about. You’d find it hard to stop caring about him, even if you heard he did the most horrendous things,” Tommy explained, and Adam thought about it.

 It was true, try as he might, he wouldn’t be able to stop caring about Marcus. He was like a father to him, and it would take a hell of a lot to break that bond. But he just wished that what Drogen had done would make Tommy consider that maybe he wasn’t as good as Tommy thought he was. Tommy might have had a little doubt in his mind because of what Adam had said, but Adam knew that Tommy wouldn’t admit to that. And he also knew that if he continued with this conversation, they’d just end up disagreeing with each other. He’d told Tommy the truth, and that was what Tommy had asked for.

“Can we just drop this? I really don’t wanna get into an argument over it.”

Tommy sat back down on the bed. “Me neither. Let’s just forget about it for now, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Adam answered, leaning in and giving Tommy a kiss, smiling into it when Tommy moved closer for more.

“Can we just spend today, I don’t know, getting to know each other?” Tommy asked when they broke apart.

“What do you mean? We do know each other.”

“Yeah, but not those little trivial things that you should know about each other. We’re gonna let this happen, right?” he asked, gesturing between him and Adam until Adam nodded.

“Then I want to know as much as I can about you.”

“Come here,” Adam said, pulling Tommy down on the bed with him so that they were lying down, Tommy’s head resting on his chest. “Right, let’s get to know each other.”

Tommy giggled. “Okay...what’s your favourite colour?”

“Purple. You?”

“Well, it used to be blue, but since I’ve been a vampire it’s kinda changed to red.”

“Seriously, red? That’s such a predictable answer for a vampire. Ermm, what was your first pet?” Adam asked.

“My mom brought me a dog when I was ten. I named him Kilroy because I wanted him to be a badass dog that I could scare people with, but he ended up being the dumbest lovable dog ever.”

Adam snorted at that, running his hands through Tommy’s hair. “My first pet was a goldfish named Gordon.”

Tommy sat up, resting his head on his hand and staring down at Adam. “A goldfish?”

Adam frowned. “Yeah, he used to come up to the top of the bowl whenever I came near him. You know, I can’t look at another goldfish now without seeing Gordon.”

Tommy laughed. “We’re meant to be these blood sucking scary creatures, and you’re reminiscing about a long lost goldfish. It’s tragic, really.”

Adam smiled. “You’ve known for a while now that I’m not the stereotypical vampire. Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Oh, I’m not. It’s just one of those things that makes you Adam.”

“That better not be a complaint.”

“Definitely not a complaint, baby,” Tommy said, and Adam felt a little thrill in his stomach at those words. No one had called him anything like that for a long time, but it just felt right that Tommy was the one to change that. He pulled Tommy in to get a taste of his mouth, the gentle slide of lips on lips comforting and easy. His dick was slightly uncomfortable with wanting to get hard and not being able to, but it was a little thing that he could put to the back of his mind so that he could just enjoy Tommy’s sweet kisses.

When they stopped for air, leaning their heads against each other, Adam let out a quiet breath of laughter when he thought back to last night.

“What is it?” Tommy asked, leaning back to look Adam in the eyes.

“I was just thinking about last night.”

“And what about last night would make you laugh and not get your dick hard?”

“Well, first of all, I haven’t had any blood today, so I have no chance of getting hard at the moment. And secondly, I wasn’t thinking about the sex, although that isn’t something I’m gonna forget anytime soon. No, I was thinking about what you said just before we went to sleep.”

Tommy looked confused. “I didn’t say anything, did I?”

“Yeah, you did. You said that you’re gonna have to start calling me donkey dick now,” Adam said with a smirk.

Tommy face palmed. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Although, I _can_ see where that came from. Your dick is pretty damn big.”

“Thanks,” Adam replied, puzzled when Tommy seemed to be waiting for him to say something else. “What?”

Tommy threw his hands up. “When someone compliments your dick, you’re not meant to just say thanks! You could at least return the favour.”

Adam slowly shook his head at Tommy, but answered anyway. “Okay, your dick is very nice, too.”

“See? Wasn’t that hard, was it?”

“Actually, it _was_ pretty hard if I do remember correctly...” Adam started, getting cut off when Tommy threw a pillow at his head.

“Smartass.”

“Anyway, weren’t we meant to be getting to know each other, Mr...shit, I don’t even know your last name.”

“It’s Ratliff. And yours is?”

“Lambert,” Adam said.

Tommy nodded, crossing his arms over his chest before sighing. “We really don’t know a lot about each other, do we? I mean, who starts a relationship without even knowing the persons last name?”

Adam scooted over to Tommy, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and smiling when Tommy instinctively leaned into him. “I’m sure it’s been done. And besides, we may not know everything about each other’s lives, but we can learn. I guess we know each other on a more emotional level than a factual kind of thing. But that’s probably the best way you can know someone.”

Tommy looked up at him, his eyes soft. Adam was sure he could get lost in them forever if Tommy kept looking at him like that. “How can you make me want to tear your clothes off one second and then write you sappy poems the next?”

Adam shrugged. “It must be a gift,” he said, brushing his knuckle against Tommy’s cheek, silently marvelling at how silky smooth Tommy’s skin was.

“Must be,” Tommy said quietly, Adam meeting him halfway when he leaned up for a kiss. Adam thought about how this time yesterday morning he was still resisting the temptation as they fell back on the bed together, arms wrapped around each other and kissing slowly. Those reasons for resisting Tommy were still valid, he could still get hurt and Tommy might hate him when the time came for him to kill Drogen, but he decided to live in the now. He wasn’t going to worry about any of those things until they came up, and then he was going to fight his hardest to stop them from happening.

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

 

 

Adam woke up to the sound of his phone ringing downstairs, sitting up and biting his lip against the smile that threatened to overtake his face when he remembered why he was on the guest room bed, on top of the covers, fully clothed. He glanced at Tommy lying next to him still sleeping, his one arm sprawled out from where he was touching Adam when he fell asleep. They’d spent the entire day yesterday alternating between talking and making out, which they had both agreed helped to break up their ‘getting to know each other’ talks.

Adam jolted out of his thoughts when he realised the phone was still ringing, and he hurried down the stairs, hoping to catch it before whoever it was hung up. Thankfully, he did just in time, and he cleared his throat before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Marcus,” the voice came from the other end, and Adam rolled his eyes. He could tell Marcus’s voice anywhere, he really didn’t need to introduce himself.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?”

“There’s gonna be another meeting this morning. Something about a group of people who we have reason to believe are vampire hunters.”

“Really? We haven’t had any hunters in this town for about a year now,” Adam said. This was one of the things about the group he worked with. It had primarily started out as a group that would make sure that no other vampire took it upon themselves to lead their species, but they had branched out a little since then to help out with any other threats nearby. Adam always felt good about being part of a group of people who worked to help, not only other vampires, but humans, too.

“I know, but we don’t know for certain yet if they are vampire hunters. It might just be a hoax, but it’s best to look into it,” Marcus said.

“Of course. When will it start?”

“In the next half hour or so? Same place as last time. Can you make it?”

Adam’s mind wandered upstairs to where Tommy was still sleeping on the guest bed. He didn’t really want to leave him, but he knew that he was going to be needed at the meeting. They would most likely be assigned something to research to get evidence that the humans were indeed hunters.

“Yeah, I can make it. I’ll see you there.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you.”

Adam hung up, pursing his lips while he thought. He kind of really wanted to just stay with Tommy and let himself get wrapped up in their own little world, but he told himself that he would get other chances to do just that.

He went back upstairs, took a quick shower and changed, then poked his head around the door to the guest room when he heard a noise.

Tommy was still lying there on the bed with his eyes closed, but his arms were raised above his head in a stretch. His eyes snapped open when Adam sat on the edge of the bed.

“You really are like a kitty, aren’t you?”

Tommy sat up, swinging his legs over onto Adam’s lap. “Look who’s talking. You were practically purring last night when I stroked your hair.”

“What can I say, your hands do that to me,” Adam said, making Tommy smile and lean in to press a kiss to his nose. Adam giggled a little at the ticklish feeling of Tommy’s hair brushing against his cheek.

“Ew, I’m still in last night’s clothes,” Tommy said, wrinkling his nose.

“You better get changed then,” Adam replied, watching Tommy stand up and swatting his ass as he went past. “Listen, I’ve got to go out soon. There’s another meeting,” Adam said as he watched Tommy get dressed.

“Oh, okay.”

Adam knew that Tommy was trying to act casual, like it didn’t matter, but he could see that he was a little disappointed. It made his chest warm when he thought about Tommy wanting to spend as much time with Adam as Adam did with him. Then, he had an idea. Why couldn’t he bring Tommy with him? Then he could fulfil his need of being with Tommy and still participate in the meetings like he was meant to. He voiced his idea to Tommy.

“Hey, do you want to come?”

Tommy slowly turned around. “Really? Won’t you be...talking about Drogen or something?”

“Nope, it’s not gonna be about him this time.”

Tommy frowned. “But the others won’t really, like, approve of me being there, will they?”

Adam thought about it. Most of them probably wouldn’t. “You know what, I don’t really care what anyone else thinks. I want you there with me. If you want to be there, that is.”

Tommy paused, staying silent for a few moments before nodding. “Okay. It will be better than staying in the house all morning, I guess.”

“Great! I’ll leave you to finish getting changed, then,” Adam said, ruffling Tommy’s hair before turning to go out of the room, chuckling at Tommy’s muttered curses about messing with his hair.

 

When they arrived, Adam felt all eyes land on him, and then everyone looked curiously at who was standing a little behind him. Tommy ducked his head and hid his face behind his bangs in response to all of the eyes on him, and Adam sort of wanted to hold his hand as some kind of reassurance, but he knew that he couldn’t. It was best if he didn’t let out that he and Tommy were more than friends. He could already tell that some people weren’t happy with him bringing Tommy here as it was, smelling a mixture of anger and confusion.

He noticed Anna looking at him long and hard, but she didn’t come over and say anything, just sat down and waited for everyone else to do likewise. Adam went to take his usual seat before catching Tommy standing there looking unsure of where to go. Adam gestured for Tommy to sit beside him, and Sharlene bounced over to sit next to Tommy almost as soon as he had taken a seat. She smiled brightly at Tommy, and Adam could tell that she had already guessed that something had happened between them. She was always so damn observant.

Tommy gave her a small smile back, and Adam noticed that he relaxed more against the chair. Adam smiled gratefully at Sharlene, and she winked at him with a grin. He knew that she’d want all of the details later, but he was sure that she was the only one who he could trust to tell the truth about their relationship. Not even Marcus would be very happy for him given the circumstances.

Just as he thought of him, Marcus appeared by his shoulder, taking the seat on his other side. He shook his head slightly at Adam, indicating that he didn’t think bringing Tommy was a good idea. Adam ignored him. He could think what he liked, it felt good to have Tommy there with him.

Morissey came in then, taking a seat directly across from Tommy. His eyebrow rose when he realised who it was, and then a slow smirk spread across his face. Adam gave him a death glare, knowing the sorts of things that were probably running through his head right now. He glanced over at Tommy, but he hadn’t noticed Morissey’s leering stare.

When Anna called them to order, he tore his eyes away, determined to stay focused on what was being said. She told them about the information they had received from a vampire who had seen these so called vampire hunters with what looked like stakes, which didn’t actually mean a lot. Adam thought they could have just been pieces of wood, it didn’t mean they were going to go out on a killing spree. But he knew that it was always better to be safe than sorry, and he nodded when he was told to try and find out some information about one of the suspects.

Whenever he looked at Tommy, he was listening in interest, and Adam had noticed that some of the other members of the meeting were nervous about this. He had caught them darting quick glances at Tommy before speaking, almost as if they were afraid to say any information in front of him. Like he was the enemy. Which, Adam guessed, he kind of was in a way. He had come from Drogen’s army, which they were trying to bring down, but they probably didn’t know that Tommy hadn’t known that. They might have thought that Tommy was as bad as Drogen, like Adam had when he had first met him. However, it still annoyed him when the others looked at Tommy with suspicious eyes. Surely, they knew they could trust Adam’s judgement, at least. Adam wouldn’t bring anyone along who he thought was a threat to them. They should have known that.

Out of the corner of Adam’s eye, he could see Tommy tapping out a rhythm on his thigh, and he smiled to himself. He wondered if Tommy had come up with a new melody and was anxious to play it, and maybe he hadn’t been listening as closely as Adam had thought.

All of a sudden, he smelt a burst of lust, and he knew instantly who it was. He looked over at Morissey, who was trailing his gaze over Tommy like he was a piece of meat he liked the look of. Adam did his best to ignore him, looking at Tommy instead, who had glanced over at him at the same time. Their eyes locked, and they shared a secret smile.

“You okay?” Adam mouthed to him, trying for subtle and hoping it was working.

Tommy nodded, then looked back at Anna to listen to what she was saying. He saw Sharlene look at him and do an eyebrow wiggle, and he rolled his eyes back at her.

At the end of the meeting, he stood up, ready to go back to the car with Tommy when he felt a hand on his arm, turning him around. He came face to face with Anna, who was looking at him with a frown. She pulled him to the side so no one could hear them.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What?” Adam asked innocently, but he knew it wouldn’t work.

“Bringing him here. What on earth were you thinking?”

“Well, it wasn’t like we were talking about Drogen or anything.”

“That’s beside the point! You shouldn’t be letting him out of the house. He could run away, and then where would we be? Or Drogen could find him, ever thought about that?” she asked angrily.

“Anna, he wouldn’t run away, and Drogen doesn’t even know where I live, so he would have no reason to be walking around here.”

“Will you listen to yourself? This was your plan, and you’re willing to ruin it by taking chances. He shouldn’t be allowed out of the house.”

“I’m not going to leave him in that house all day,” Adam said firmly, turning around and making his way to Tommy.

He stopped in his tracks when he found Tommy with his back pressed against the wall, Morissey standing over him with one hand resting on the wall beside Tommy’s head. Tommy glanced around quickly, spotting Adam and giving him the clearest ‘help me’ eyes he had ever seen.

Adam strode over, shoving Morissey’s hand off the wall and standing between him and Tommy. Morissey didn’t look too fussed that Adam had interrupted. In fact, he was still wearing that sleazy grin on his face.

“Oh, hey, Adam. I was just asking Tommy if he wanted to have a good time. You wouldn’t mind him coming over mine for a while, would you?” he asked, and Adam practically growled in his face. He felt his anger rise unnaturally, and he knew that Morissey was fucking with him. He loved to use his power against Adam. “What’s the matter? You finally listened to your cock and got your hands on him like I told you to?”

“I don’t use people like you do, Morissey,” he hissed.

“So, you won’t mind me having a piece of him, then?”

“Yeah, I do mind,” Adam said, and he pulled Tommy into his side. Tommy looked up at him, obviously not sure what Adam was doing. “He’s mine,” Adam continued, and he didn’t care that he’d told himself they weren’t going to say anything, Morissey had just pushed him to the edge. Even without him using his power to heighten Adam’s anger, he would have said it anyway. He couldn’t bear the thought of anyone touching Tommy like that and he wanted everyone to know that Tommy was _his,_ damn it.

The room had gone silent following his statement, so quiet he could almost hear a pin drop. Everyone had their eyes on them, bewildered expressions on their faces. Well, except Morissey’s, who just looked like he’d missed out on the chance of a good fuck. Adam really hated him sometimes, and this was one of those moments.

Slowly, people began to talk again, and Sharlene was the first to come up. She hugged Adam tightly, and he squeezed her back. “I’m so happy for you. You two look really good together,” she whispered, and Adam kissed her on the cheek when she pulled away. She went over to Tommy, enveloping him in a hug, too, and he stood there for a moment, not sure what to do, before hugging her back tentatively. He watched her chatter to him at full speed with a smile until Marcus came up to him.

“I told you not to get too emotionally involved with him. And now what? You’re together?”

“Yeah, we are. Marcus, please just be happy for me,” Adam pleaded.

Marcus sighed. “I want to be, trust me I do, but I can’t be. It’s going to make everything more complicated. He’s going to distract you from the plan, make you rethink things.”

“Wait a minute, I thought you didn’t want me to go through with this plan, anyway,” Adam pointed out.

“I didn’t, but I understand now that it’s the only way. We can’t have him seize power and, as much as I hate that justice has to come in the form of death, he does need to pay. I still hope that you’ll rethink you going on your own to kill Drogen, but I know that he needs to be killed.”

“Well, for starters, I’m still going to go through with the plan. Tommy won’t stop that, okay? And you know why I need to do it alone, Marcus.”

Marcus shifted from foot to foot. “I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”

“And I won’t. You’re gonna have to trust me on this one. I’ll see you soon,” Adam said, patting Marcus on the shoulder and going over to Tommy, who was waiting for him at the door.

“Did you mean that, or were you just trying to get Morissey to back off when you said I’m yours?” Tommy asked as they made their way outside.

“Baby, you’re as much mine as I am yours,” Adam replied, wrapping his arms around Tommy’s waist and pulling him closer.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Tommy said with a grin, curling his arms around Adam’s neck and tugging him down for a kiss, slipping a little tongue in there teasingly. Adam threaded his fingers through Tommy’s hair, groaning when he pulled back from the kiss. “I shouldn’t be distracting you. You have some research to do when you get home, don’t you?”

“It can wait,” Adam murmured.

“No, it can’t. It’s important,” Tommy said, opening the car door and ushering Adam inside before going around to the passenger side.

“Tease,” Adam said with a pout.

“Oh, I plan to put out eventually.”

“Not exactly helping with your plan not to distract me.”

Tommy laughed, and Adam couldn’t help but smile at the sound. Tommy being a tease or not, that laugh would always make him happy.

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

 

 

As soon as Adam was in the house, Tommy directed him to the computer and told him to get on with what he had to do. Adam wanted to tell him that it didn’t have to be done immediately, but it would be better if they got the information soon. He’d just typed in the name that Anna had given him, when he saw that Tommy was about to leave the room.

“Stay with me?” Adam asked. He saw Tommy’s mouth open and guessed what he was going to say. “You won’t distract me,” he added.

Tommy nodded, perching on the arm of the chair Adam was sitting on. Adam wrapped his arm around his waist to help him keep his balance. He looked at the results his search had gotten him and started rooting around for any information he could find.

“I’ll be surprised if they turn out to be vampire hunters. Last time we had any around here was last year, and I think we scared them off by having Carrie and Rob on our side” Adam said.

“I’ve never actually met a vampire hunter. I mean, I’ve only ever heard of them,” Tommy noted.

Adam scanned the screen in front of him, picking up on little bits of information that may be useful to know. “They’re basically just your normal every day people. I think becoming a hunter usually stems from having some sort of fascination with the ‘myth’ of vampires and digging deeper until they find the truth. Or seeing evidence that someone’s a vampire, maybe. They can be really dangerous. They may be human, but they know one way to kill us, and that’s enough.”

Tommy was silent for a few moments as he watched Adam click around on the internet. “Do you think it was a good idea to tell everyone at that meeting what we are to each other?” he asked suddenly, and Adam figured this was what he was thinking about when he had gotten quiet.

“I don’t know, but I do know that I don’t wanna live a lie. First of all, I can’t lie to the people I love, and secondly, I’m proud that I’m yours. I shouldn’t have to hide it away like it’s some dirty little secret.”

“I know that, but no one seemed particularly pleased about it, did they?”

Adam smirked, his eyes flicking up to meet Tommy’s before focusing back on the screen. “Weren’t you paying attention when Sharlene was practically suffocating you in a hug?”

“Hah, okay, maybe she was the exception. But no one else...”

“Tommy, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. They’re my friends, well, most of them are, but I don’t need them to approve of what I do,” Adam explained. He looked up at Tommy, seeing that he was still thinking about it, and attempted to distract him. “Hey, what did you think of everyone?”

Tommy blinked, and he smiled at Adam’s obvious distraction. “Well, Anna was nice enough. I mean, she seems to know what she’s talking about and she doesn’t look like she’s afraid to say what she thinks. I like that.”

“Yeah, she’s the one a lot of us go to when we need some advice without any of the bullshit. Marcus?”

“From what you’ve told me about him and from what I’ve seen myself, he’s a really good person. He looks out for you, and if he’s kind of like your father then I really want him to like me,” Tommy admitted.

“Aww,” Adam cooed, turning slightly in his chair to peck Tommy on the lips. “You know, if he just got to know you, I know he’d love you. Hmm, what about Sharlene?”

“She’s cool, and the most welcoming, for sure. Oh, she told me to tell you that you’re gonna have to give her all of the details later or she won’t stop bugging you for them.”

“Of course she would say that. Knew I wouldn’t be able to get out of the gossip talk. And you’re totally gonna have to leave the room when I start gushing about you to her. I’m guessing you don’t like Morissey?”

“He’s...well, he’s a character,” Tommy said simply, and Adam burst out laughing.

“Go on, Tommy, just say it. He’s an asshole.”

“Yeah, he kinda is. I’m damn glad that it was you whose house I had to stop at and not his,” Tommy said, and Adam suppressed a shudder. He could only imagine the sorts of things Morissey would say or do if Tommy was staying with him.

“Ugh, don’t even make me think of that.”

Adam turned back around in his seat, clicking on and off of web pages. “Found anything yet?” Tommy asked.

“It doesn’t look like they’re hunters. They don’t move around a lot, which is what hunters typically do to kill off vampires in different areas. To be honest with you, I just think it was an old vampire being paranoid.”

Tommy got up from the arm of the chair, stretching his legs out. “I’m gonna go take a shower. Forgot to take one this morning.”

Adam closed the windows on the computer and proceeded to shut it down. “I can’t get any more information out of this, anyway. Wait for me, and we can take a shower together?”

Tommy smirked. “I like the sound of that. What are you doing now?”

Adam went to get his phone. “First of all, telling Anna about the information I found, and then it looks like I’ve gotta give Sharlene the low down on what’s been happening.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Yeah, I might just need it. And you’re gonna have to go upstairs or something. I wasn’t joking when I said I didn’t want you to hear me gushing over you,” Adam said, thinking about how he had rambled on about Tommy before they were romantically involved. He didn’t really want Tommy to hear him sound like a dork, even though he’d probably say he knew he was one, anyway.

Tommy pouted. “But that could be some good mocking material.”

“Tough. I’m sure you can find many more things to mock me with,” Adam said while steering Tommy towards the stairs. Tommy rolled his eyes but climbed them anyway, and Adam admired the round curve of his tiny ass as he went.

“Don’t think I don’t know you’re looking,” Tommy shouted when he’d reached the top of the stairs and disappeared around the corner. Adam laughed, and he marvelled at how many times he had done that since Tommy had arrived. Probably more than he had in the entire time since Kris had died.

As he thought about that, he dialled Anna’s number. Listening to the ringing on the other end, he remembered that she hadn’t said anything about his announcement at the end of the meeting. He wondered if she would say something about it now, and he figured it was highly likely. She wasn’t one to let her opinion go unknown.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Adam. I’ve done the research you wanted me to do.”

“Oh, good. What did you find out?” she asked.

“This is the first time they’ve moved since they were born. They have jobs that involve long hours, probably wouldn’t have a lot of time to go delving into vampire myths. I really don’t think they’re vampire hunters. You know how some of us get paranoid.”

“I did think that might be the case, but I had to be sure. Thank you for the information,” she said, and then there was silence. Adam just knew that something about this morning was going to come up and, sure enough, it did. “About you and Tommy...”

Adam sighed. “You think he’s going to distract me from the plan, don’t you?”

“Well, yes. He could easily persuade you not to do it, and then where would we be?”

“We wouldn’t be able to find another opportunity because Drogen would be looking out for threats and increase security,” Adam said, knowing her arguments already.

“So you know why you shouldn’t be doing this, and yet you still do it?”

“Do you really think I could be persuaded that easily? I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, Anna, surely you don’t think I would back down now?”

“I know what you’re like when you’re in a relationship. You’ll do anything for the people you love, and sometimes it might not be the right thing to do,” Anna tried to explain.

“I’m not just doing this for myself. I know that I need to do it for our kind, too, and as you said, I’ll do anything for the people I love. That includes all of you. So stop worrying, okay?”

She paused. “I’ll try. I should give that old vampire a call with your findings now.”

“I’ll leave you to get on with that, then. Bye.”

He closed his eyes when he finished the call, wishing that the people in his life would be as happy for him as he was right now. He heard the faint sound of a guitar being played, and he remembered why Tommy was upstairs. Maybe a chat with Sharlene was just what he needed, after all. His fingers moved over the familiar number, and the phone had barely rung once before Sharlene answered it.

“Adam?”

“How did you guess?”

“You ready to tell me everything, then?” she asked excitedly, and Adam shook his head fondly at the obvious joy his relationship was bringing to her.

“Where do you want me to start?”

“How long have you been going out? How did it start? And why did you not tell me earlier?”

“We’ve only been going out for, like, two days now, I guess, it started when I was training him to control his ability, and I didn’t really have chance to tell you earlier. I wanted it to just be for us, at least for the first day,” Adam said.

“You can’t just tell me that! There had to be a specific moment that led from training him to making out with him.”

Adam rolled his eyes, thankful that she couldn’t see and bitch him out for it. “Okay, we were having a practise fight, and there might have been some playful flirting going on, too. I dragged him down on the floor with me, and we ended up kissing,” he made sure not to give any clue as to what had happened after that. Sharlene may have been good at getting things out of him, but that was way too private a thing to share.

“So, what about all of those doubts you were having last time we spoke? They all gone now?” she asked, and if anyone else had asked it he probably would have snapped at them, but he knew that Sharlene didn’t mean it in a way to make him rethink his relationship with Tommy. She was simply curious.

“No, they’re still there. But I’ll deal with them when the time comes. Right now, I’m just so happy to enjoy what I have with Tommy,” Adam said truthfully.

“So, has anything changed since you two got together?”

“Well, we kiss and that, which we didn’t do before. But we still act the same way around each other, except it’s less awkward and I don’t have to resist when I want to stroke his hair or something like that.”

“Aww. You have no idea how glad I am to hear you sound so happy. Not saying you weren’t happy before, but...”

“I know what you mean,” Adam cut her off. He could see it himself. He smiled wider now, and when he caught himself in the mirror, he could hardly recognise the brightness in his eyes. He found himself taking more time with his hair, his makeup, like he used to when Kris was there. He still paused at the picture of Kris every now and then, his mind flooding with memories and the sound of Drogen’s voice, but it wasn’t enough to keep him out of his positive mood. Tommy was like the sun, with his golden hair, shining eyes and warm body. He’d brought light into Adam’s life, and now even the darkest of things didn’t seem quite as bad.

“I’ll have to meet him properly sometime. I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to him at the meeting, but from what I’ve seen and heard, he’s one of the best things that could have happened to you,” Sharlene said softly.

“He really is,” Adam replied, his heart in his throat. He felt a pang of guilt for agreeing, reminding him of Kris, but he shook it off. He didn’t have anything to feel guilty about. It had been a year and a half for Christ’s sake. A year and a half without being with anyone romantically. He deserved to have the happiness Tommy brought to him after the heartbreak he had been through.

“Listen, why don’t we all go out shopping tomorrow or something? Give me a chance to get to know him.”

Adam thought about it. The only times he and Tommy had went out together was to the club and the meeting. He always had fun shopping, and it would be even better witnessing Tommy getting along with one of his best friends. Except for one thing. “Okay, but I don’t want you pretending he’s a doll to dress up like you tried to with me when we first met.”

“You’re no fun! He’s too pretty to _not_ dress up!”

“Shar, promise me,” Adam said.

“Fine, I promise not to dress your boyfriend up. Happy now?”

“Very. We’ll meet you about 1?”

“Yeah. Think of this as a test, if he can’t handle my crazy then he certainly won’t be able to handle your crazy,” she said with a giggle.

“Please don’t tell him this is a test. It so isn’t.”

“It is in my eyes. I’ve gotta go now. See ya!”

“Bye,” Adam chuckled and shook his head as he hung up. He could already tell tomorrow was going to be a long day, but it had been a while since he had truly let go and had fun. And it would be even more fun with Tommy by his side.

Thinking of Tommy, he headed up the stairs, following the music into the guest room. Tommy had his eyes closed, but his lips lifted up into a smile when Adam entered the room. He sat down next to him, sitting silent and listening to the sounds Tommy was creating. It always amazed him how much beauty could be made from the strings of a guitar and talented hands. When Tommy reached the end of his song, he opened his eyes and looked up at Adam expectedly.

“I kinda made plans for us for tomorrow,” Adam said, and Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Should I be worried?”

“No, it’s just clothes shopping with Sharlene. She said she wanted to get to know you properly.”

Tommy bobbed his head up and down in a nod. “That would be fun. Although, will I be interrogated?”

Adam hummed. “Maybe a little. But I was thinking we could go somewhere else after that. Something for just the two of us.”

Tommy shifted over until he was sitting sideways on Adam’s lap. He looped his arms around Adam’s neck and hung on. “That sounds perfect.”

Adam bit his lip against a smile, ducking his head down and giving Tommy a kiss. “I’m glad you think so. Now, what was this about a shower?”

Tommy sprang off Adam’s lap, holding out his hand for him to take and dragging him off to the bathroom when he did. He watched Adam as he got what they needed ready, watched him as he ran the shower, and watched him strip out of his clothes while he waited for it to run hot. Adam could feel his eyes on him the entire time, and it made him feel like he was something Tommy wanted to eat. It felt good.

When he got into the shower and under the spray, Tommy started losing his own clothes. He watched through a gap in the shower curtain, his dick taking immediate notice of Tommy’s nakedness. Tommy climbed inside with him, nudging him to get closer to the hot water raining down on them.

Adam grabbed the shower gel and started cleaning himself, handing it to Tommy when he was done. He stepped forward to get his hair under the spray, his mouth open in a moan when the hot water made his muscles relax. He was startled when he felt hands on his head, then relaxed again when he felt Tommy massaging the lather of shampoo into his hair.

His cold heart warmed at the gesture. It was something he and Kris had done for each other so often that it had begun to be routine for them when they were in the shower together. Now, with Tommy’s long fingers stroking through Adam’s hair, it wasn’t routine. It was moving on, making new memories with Tommy. It didn’t feel the same, it felt different in the best way possible, and Adam felt a sudden wave of gratitude at what Tommy had done for him. Hair rinsed out, Adam turned and did the same for Tommy, loving the feel of Tommy’s hair sliding through his fingers.

Turning him around when he was done, he leaned in to touch his lips to Tommy’s. The water cascaded down their backs, keeping them warm, and he held Tommy’s body tight against his own as they kissed slowly.

He felt Tommy’s tongue tap against his retracted fangs, and Adam couldn’t resist biting down a little. His fangs weren’t out, but the teeth that were in their position were still unnaturally sharp. He heard Tommy’s breath hitch as the cut on his tongue bled into Adam’s mouth, who licked over it teasingly before breathing on it to seal it.

Adam pulled back, flicking his wet hair out of his eyes. Tommy rested his head on Adam’s bare chest, drawing patterns into his skin even as the water washed them away.

“We should get out,” Adam said reluctantly, enjoying the feel of Tommy in his arms. He felt Tommy’s head nod on his chest, but they didn’t move, staying there wrapped up in each other for as long as they could.

“Too comfortable,” Tommy mumbled, groaning when Adam finally let go of him and shut the water off. He reached for the towels before stepping out and gesturing for Tommy to do the same. They dried each other off, towelling their hair and leaving it to dry in the warm air. After getting changed into their bed clothes, they went out into the hallway, Tommy automatically making his way to the guest room. He turned to look at Adam when he coughed pointedly.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Tommy blinked, looking at the door to the guest room and then back at Adam. “Damn, I didn’t even think. I’ve never slept anywhere but that room in this house.”

“I mean, you don’t have to sleep with me if you don’t want to. If you want your own space...” Adam trailed off, hoping that the disappointment didn’t show in his voice. He had to admit that he was kind of looking forward to sleeping in a bed with Tommy for the first time as a couple.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Don’t be stupid. Of course I want to.”

Adam held out his hand, and Tommy took it with a smile, following Adam into his bedroom. He let out a moan-like sound when he spotted the huge bed covered with dozens of silky cushions.

Adam went over to it, brushed some of the cushions off to make more room, and got inside, patting the space next to him when he noticed Tommy looking unsure. He watched as Tommy climbed inside, sighing when he relaxed against the soft mattress. Adam leaned over and shut off the lamp beside his bed, turning to face Tommy in the dark.

“This feels nice,” he whispered, scooting closer to the heat of Tommy’s body.

“It does. _You_ feel nice,” Tommy said, tucking his head under Adam’s chin and pressing a kiss to his chest. Adam heart swelled and he kissed the top of Tommy’s head in response, unable to say anything back. It felt too perfect a moment, and they didn’t really need words, anyway.

As he closed his eyes and listened to the calming sound of Tommy’s breathing, Adam thought about how he could never get tired of this, having Tommy to snuggle up to at night, to hold hands with when he needed the comfort and to kiss when he needed him physically. It knew that he was opening himself up to Tommy, letting him see his faults and weaknesses, and he could guess what others would say about that. But he didn’t care. He _wanted_ to show Tommy every single side of himself, just like he wanted to see every single part of Tommy. He’d craved that kind of connection again, and he hadn’t thought he’d find it with anyone since Kris. And for once, he was happy to be proven wrong.

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

                                                                    

 

Adam rolled over onto his stomach, burrowing deeper under the covers to hide from the glaring light in the room. He sighed happily at the warmth he could feel by his side, and opened his eyes to see a shock of blonde hair on the pillow next to him. Tommy was still asleep, and sometime in the middle of the night he had thrown his leg over Adam’s hip. Adam stroked his hand over the leg on him, enjoying the closeness. He watched as Tommy’s lips turned up into a half smile, and wondered what he was dreaming about. He kind of wished it was about him, and just as that thought crossed his mind Tommy opened his eyes, blinking up at Adam sleepily.

“Good morning,” Adam said, moving to lean on his elbows.

“Morning,” Tommy yawned, his leg slipping off Adam’s hip as he stretched.

“Have a good sleep?”

Tommy looked up at Adam with a smile. “The best I’ve had in a long time.”

“I’m glad.”

Tommy narrowed his eyes playfully. “You don’t think it was because of you, do you? It was actually because of the bed, if you must know.”

“You sure know how to flatter a guy,” Adam said with a smirk.

Tommy shrugged. “Sorry, but I may have to start a secret love affair with this bed. It’s just so damn comfy.”

“Trying to get me jealous, are you?”

“How did you guess?” Tommy wrapped his arms around Adam’s neck and tugged him down. “Is it working?” he breathed against Adam’s lips. Adam leaned in a little further to touch his lips to Tommy’s, his hand cupping the back of his head. He pulled experimentally on Tommy’s hair and heard him moan into the kiss, opening his mouth at the same time so that Adam could explore some more. When they broke apart, Adam moved his mouth down to Tommy’s neck, pressing open mouthed kisses at his jugular.

“You’ll have to try a little harder than that next time,” he said while giving one last kiss to Tommy’s collarbone.

Tommy laughed, resting his head back down on the pillow as Adam did the same. “So, I guess we should get ready for shopping.”

“Yeah, we should, but I kinda really wanna stay right here” Adam said, trapping Tommy in his arms and cuddling in close to him. Tommy wiggled out of his arms, ignoring the pout Adam gave him.

“We can’t. I’m not gonna give Sharlene a bad impression of me,” he said, jumping out of bed and getting his clothes ready. Adam felt Tommy’s eyes on him when he didn’t move from where he was.

“Up. Now,” Tommy put his hands on his hips and arched an eyebrow, and it was so damn cute yet Adam knew he meant business. He walked over to Adam’s side of the bed and tugged at his hand, whining when he couldn’t move him an inch.

“Adam, if I could drag you out of bed I would, but I can’t, so you’re just gonna have to do it yourself.”

Adam sighed, but swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, going towards his closet to find some clothes to wear.

“That’s the spirit, Lambert,” Tommy said, giving a light tap to Adam’s ass and winking before taking over the bathroom. Adam chuckled to himself, a grin on his face the entire time he picked out his outfit.

 

Adam stopped outside of Sharlene’s house in the car, honking the horn after a few minutes of waiting.

“What if she doesn’t like me?” Tommy asked quietly, twisting his hands in his lap. Adam leaned over and took one of them, brushing his lips over Tommy’s fingertips.

“As long as they’re not hurting me, she’ll love anyone who makes me happy. And you, Tommy Ratliff, make me very happy.”

“I do?” Tommy looked so unsure that Adam wanted to blurt out everything that Tommy made him feel. But that would make him sound like an idiot, so he just nodded, hoping that his eyes showed how much he meant it.

He jumped when he heard the car door shut loudly, and turned to see Sharlene in the back seat, her curly hair wild and her grin wide.

“Don’t mind keeping us waiting, do you?”Adam asked as he started the engine.

“Didn’t take half as long as you do when you get ready,” she retorted, and Adam was glad she was in the back and couldn’t see the roll of his eyes. Things were quiet after that, and he turned the radio on so that they didn’t have to sit in silence. Sharlene started bobbing her head to the music, and Adam was glad that he had relaxed the atmosphere a little.

“So, where are we going shopping?” Tommy asked suddenly, and Adam was pleased with his effort to start a conversation with Sharlene. A lot of people usually felt intimidated when they first met her, but then again, Tommy wasn’t just anyone.

“There’s this super cool place that has just about every clothes shop you could want...”

Adam listened as Sharlene rambled on about all of the different shops at high speed. Tommy didn’t have to say much to keep up the conversation, which was just as well, Sharlene wasn’t keen on people interrupting her when she was in the flow of talking. And Tommy seemed much happier when they stopped outside of the shops.

Adam took Tommy’s hand when they got out of the car and started walking, and he could just tell Sharlene was making heart eyes at them.

“Let’s go in this one first!” Sharlene yelled, bouncing ahead and into the shop, raking her fingers longingly over the clothes when she got near them. “How gorgeous is this dress?” she asked, holding it up to her body and striking a pose.

Adam felt Tommy stiffen beside him and glanced at him in confusion before answering. “It’s beautiful. You should buy it.”

Sharlene frowned. “I don’t know. It’s a little too plain for me.”

“Then why gush over how gorgeous it is?” Adam asked, letting go of Tommy’s hand to take a look at some clothes that had caught his interest. Sharlene waved Tommy over to her, and he could hear her talking to him about what sort of clothes she thought would suit him. He saw her lead him over to the men’s section, picking out jeans at random and passing them to Tommy. He looked down at the funky shirt he held in his hands, contemplating whether or not to buy it before putting it back. When he turned to see where Tommy was, he couldn’t find him, and he guessed that Sharlene had got him to try out the jeans.

He went further into the building, finding some cool necklaces that would look great with the leather pants he had back at home. He was looking at rings when Sharlene appeared at his shoulder, Tommy in tow behind her.

“We found Tommy some jeans that I’m sure will look super hot on him,” she said, thrusting the jeans into Adam’s arms. He looked down at the jeans, noticing that they were all very tight.

“Hmm, you’ll have to model these for me when we back,” he said, and he noticed Tommy’s smile at his comment seemed a little off, almost like it was forced. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he didn’t want to attract Sharlene’s attention to it. He went to pay for the clothes and necklaces, and he could sense Tommy sidling up to him before he saw him. Tommy stood on his tiptoes to speak into Adam’s ear.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked, his eyes wide and desperate.

“Of course,” Adam replied, pulling Tommy to the side where there weren’t many people. “What’s the matter?”

Tommy looked around hesitantly, like he was afraid of people hearing him. “I can’t do this.”

Adam frowned, and sniffed the air to try and understand what Tommy was talking about. His breath hitched. He could smell the fear that was radiating off of Tommy, but so much stronger than that was the all too familiar hunger for blood. He bit his lip. “I should have thought of this before. I completely forgot that you weren’t used to being around humans. I guess I thought because you were so good with Carrie and Rob, you would be okay here.”

Tommy shook his head. “It’s not the same. I got to know them, which stopped me from wanting to feed from them. But these humans...I could so easily go over and feed from them,” he said, and his hand clapped over his mouth when his fangs came out. Adam pulled him into his side, stroking his hair and shushing him as he freaked out.

“Don’t worry. No one saw them,” he whispered, glad that they had drank some blood before they had left. It could have been so much more dangerous if Tommy had been hungry at the same time as wanting to feed.

“Adam, I don’t know what to do,” Tommy murmured into Adam’s chest, his face hidden from view.

“Look up.” Adam felt the movement of Tommy shaking his head against him. “No, seriously, look up. They won’t see your fangs if you keep your mouth closed,” he reassured him.

Tommy slowly took his head off Adam’s chest, keeping his mouth firmly closed. Adam could just about see the corners of Tommy’s mouth that were pushed out because of the fangs, but he was sure it wasn’t so noticeable for anyone else to see.

“See that man over there? He’s got two daughters who are waiting for him at home, and he’s the only thing they’ve got. That woman walking in front of him? She has a boyfriend who’s going to propose to her tonight and make her the happiest woman alive. And that old lady to the right of her? She’s done charity work all of her life, and all of the good that she’s done should come back to her someday,” Adam said. Of course, he was making it all up, but he hoped it would get Tommy to see them as people, not humans.

He looked down to see Tommy watching the people he had pointed out, his breathing slowing down and returning to normal. Adam could still smell the bloodlust, but it wasn’t as strong now, and it seemed that Tommy had more control over it. “Thank you,” Tommy said, and Adam could see that his fangs were gone when he opened his mouth. He felt arms wrap around his waist and then Tommy was hugging him fiercely, his face pressed into Adam’s neck. Adam hugged him back just as tightly, his chin resting on top of Tommy’s head.

“It was nothing.”

Tommy pulled back, smiling up at Adam, and he was glad to see that this time it wasn’t fake. “Guess we should buy these then, huh?” Tommy asked, eyeing the stuff in Adam’s arms.

“You know, I wasn’t lying when I said you could model these for me,” Adam said as they walked up to the counter and paid for the items.

“Didn’t think you were,” Tommy replied with a smirk. They found Sharlene near the front door waiting for them.

“What took you so long?”

“The cue was big,” Adam lied, not wanting to explain what had happened. She accepted the answer and walked out, linking arms with Tommy and discussing the pros of boots with him. Adam smiled as he walked slightly behind them, hearing Tommy complain that he liked his creepers better. He was proud of him for standing up to Sharlene (there were few that did), and it seemed that she liked it, too, for she turned to him when Tommy walked ahead into the next shop.

“He’s a keeper.”

“I know he is,” he said, looking over at where Tommy was already making a beeline for the beloved creepers.

 

“Where are we actually going?”

Adam glanced at Tommy from the driver’s seat before turning his head back to the road. They’d just spent nearly half a day shopping with Sharlene and they were both equally exhausted. But Adam didn’t want to back out of his promise for them to go somewhere alone today, so here he was, driving with absolutely no sense of where he was going. He hadn’t exactly let Tommy in on that little fact, though, and decided it was time to come clean.

“Umm, I don’t know,” he admitted, not having to turn and face Tommy to know he was staring at him with disbelief in his eyes.

“What? I thought you at least had an idea of where we were going.”

“Yeah, that would have been a good idea. I’m kind of just looking for someplace to catch my interest at the moment.”

“I doubt you’ll find anything here. I am not spending any time at a funeral home,” Tommy said, pointing at one they’d just passed. Adam laughed.

“I’m sure we’ll find something. Don’t worry.”

Half an hour later, Adam was still driving blindly while Tommy watched him with an increasingly amused expression. He didn’t really want to give up and prove Tommy right, especially knowing that he’d be teased endlessly for it the whole car ride home. Instead, he carried on driving until he spotted groups of people crowded around what looked like a huge gate. He sat up straighter, hoping that it was something at least a little bit interesting. He grinned when he saw that it was a zoo, earning a puzzled look from Tommy.

“We’re going to the zoo!” Adam exclaimed, and Tommy choked back a laugh.

“The zoo? Seriously?”

“Why not?”

Tommy just stared at Adam incredulously. “We’re vampires. Vampires don’t go to the zoo.”

“And who says that? We’re not really monsters that can’t go out in the day, you know.”

Tommy paused, and Adam was reminded that Tommy had lived a very different vampire lifestyle from him. He’d been told that vampires were predators, who were superior to humans, not that they could go out and enjoy the same kinds of places that they did. He realised that it had to still be a little strange for Tommy to live this sort of life.

“I guess we’re going to the zoo, then,” Tommy said, and Adam reached over and rested his hand on top of Tommy’s, not missing his little smile as he pulled into the car park. They got out of the car, and Adam walked towards the entrance and bought tickets for them while Tommy stood off to the side waiting for him. When he came back, he took Tommy’s hand and dragged him inside, feeling a rush of freedom as he followed wherever his legs were taking him.

“I can’t believe we’re at a zoo,” Tommy said.

Adam leaned in to whisper in his ear to make sure he wasn’t heard by anyone else, even though he was sure no one was paying attention to them. And that was one of the things he loved about times like these when they could just fit in with the crowd, not have to separate themselves from what they once were. “Vampires are still people. We should get the choices that everyone else does.”

“I know. But all my vampire life I’ve never been told to think like that. I’ve been told I’m more than that, only less, too. Does that make sense?” Tommy asked, tipping his head back on Adam’s shoulder. Adam ran his fingers through Tommy’s hair, lifting it up and watching when he let it drop and it fell perfectly back into place.

“It does. You’ve been told you’re better than humans, only it’s not right to go to the same places as them, do the things they do. That takes a lot out of life.”

“Exactly,” Tommy murmured.

Adam lifted his chin up to get him to look into his eyes. “You haven’t had this freedom to go anywhere or do anything since you’ve been a vampire. But I’m going to make sure you get to experience all of these things, even stuff that isn’t considered what vampires do. What’s the point in living forever when you can’t do anything you want?”

Tommy gazed at him thoughtfully. “You know, the times I’ve spent with you have been the highlights of my vampire life.”

It surprised him at first, but Adam remembered that Tommy been living with Drogen for the full two years of his vampire life, and that couldn’t have been much fun, even if he hadn’t thought it at the time. Still, he hoped that these times being the highlights of Tommy’s life wasn’t just to do with the comparison of his life with Drogen.

“Well, then, we’d better get to making another highlight,” Adam said, pulling Tommy around the corner and stopping in front of an area where monkeys were swinging from ropes and branches. He heard a soft giggle from beside him and turned to see Tommy muffling his laughter with a fist.

“What is it?”

Tommy shook his head, but carried on fighting to keep the giggles in. Adam crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a look that told him he wasn’t impressed. “Just tell me, Tommy.”

“You’ve got a lookalike,” Tommy said between breaths of laughter, pointing towards one monkey in particular. Adam turned to where he was pointing, spotting a monkey with high hair who was showing off the most out of the group.

“He does not look like me,” Adam pouted.

“Acts a bit like you, too,” Tommy said as he eyed the monkey strutting back and forth in front of them.

After that, Adam had dragged Tommy around trying to find an animal that looked like him, finally spotting a meerkat who he insisted had Tommy’s eyes while the man himself strongly disagreed.

 They teased and laughed with each other for the rest of the day, until they decided it was time to go home. Adam told Tommy as such, and when he felt the words on his lips, he thought about how he really wanted it to be Tommy’s home, too, not just a place he was staying at. He could remember when he’d wondered how difficult it would be to live with someone again, but now it felt natural for Tommy to be there every day. He couldn’t imagine waking up without him there. He didn’t want to think about what the future held for them with the subject of Drogen still looming in the air. The possibility of Tommy hating him for what he knew he had to do wasn’t going to go away, though. Not until it was over.  

He pulled Tommy into his arms at the thought, wanting to keep his mind out of the shaky future and in the present, where he could hold him as much as he wanted. 

“This day been another highlight?” Adam asked, and Tommy stood on Adam’s feet to gain some height, his nose skimming across his jaw playfully.

“Most definitely.”

As Adam walked hand in hand with Tommy to the car, he hoped that the strength of their relationship had the power to overcome whatever happened. Or else he might just break.

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

                                                                 

 

“Stop letting me win!”

Adam looked up at Tommy innocently. “I’m not letting you win.”

“Yes, you are. There’s no way I would have been able to win five fights in a row.”

Adam sighed. “I just don’t wanna hurt you.”

“Adam, I can look after myself. You should know that by now,” Tommy said from his position on top of Adam.

Adam knew that. It was in that fire in him that he loved, but he really didn’t want to injure Tommy in any of their practise fights.

“Adam, look at me,” Tommy lifted Adam’s chin up until Adam met his eyes. “We’re going to go again. But this time I don’t want you to hold back on me completely. Obviously, I don’t wanna get punched or whatever, but you don’t need to be careful with me. Okay?”

Adam nodded and let himself be pulled back to his feet, knowing that Tommy wouldn’t let it go until he agreed. He relaxed into his fighting stance, watching Tommy do the same opposite him.

“Ready?” Tommy asked.

“Ready.”

As soon as he uttered the words, Tommy ran at him, a fog of smoke coming out of his hand to distract him. Adam remembered what Tommy had said and knocked him out of the way, darting behind him so that he’d have the upper hand. Tommy had somehow sensed his presence, though, and ducked down when Adam went to grab for him. Adam span around when Tommy sent off some more smoke, disoriented and searching for Tommy. He stumbled as something landed on his back before the smoke had cleared. He felt legs clinging to him and an open mouthed kiss on his throat.

“Give up?” Tommy asked against his skin, and Adam shook him off without answering, listening to hear Tommy land on the floor safely. He went over to where Tommy was scrambling to get up, leaning over him and blocking his escape. Tommy wrapped his arms around Adam’s neck, desperately trying to roll them over so that he was on top. Adam grunted at Tommy’s surprising strength, holding his own before buckling and feeling his back hit the floor. He could see Tommy’s grin as he clambered on Adam, and let out a grin of his own when he slid out from under Tommy and swapped their positions again.

“Shall we call that a draw?” Adam asked, his dishevelled hair falling into Tommy’s face.

“Yeah. Knew it would be better when you stopped holding back. I like a challenge.”

Adam chuckled and ducked his head to touch his lips to Tommy’s, groaning when he felt Tommy clutch at his hair with tight fingers. He hissed at the sting to his scalp when he pulled on it and delved his tongue into Tommy’s mouth, his hand reaching up to stroke over Tommy’s cheek.

They were interrupted by the ring of the phone, and they groaned in unison when Adam stood up to answer it.

“Hey, just calling to check up on you. We haven’t heard from you in a while,” Carrie said when he picked it up, and Adam kind of wanted to snap at her for interrupting his time with Tommy. Then he remembered that she didn’t even know they were going out, and decided that today could be the perfect time to tell her and Rob the news.

“Sorry about that. A lot’s been going on. Hey, why don’t you both come over today?”

“Sure. Why do you sound so eager?” Carrie asked suspiciously.

“No reason. I can make food, too, if you want.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do that.”

“Carrie, you say this every time I do it and you know that I’m fine with it,” Adam said, glancing over at Tommy, who was still lying on the floor, one hand on his stomach and staring up at the ceiling. He smiled at how relaxed he looked, even though they’d been cock blocked.

“But I know how much human food disgusts you.”

“It doesn’t matter. You know I like to cook for you two every now and again. It’s not like I can do it for myself, so just let me indulge, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

He put the phone down, making his way over to Tommy and holding out a hand for him to take. Tommy took it and pulled himself up, crossing his arms and looking at Adam with a question in his eyes.

“Carrie and Rob are coming over soon,” he explained, and Tommy moved closer until they were chest to chest. He stretched up so that he was level with Adam, licking at his bottom lip before giving teasing pecks to Adam’s lips. Adam could tell that Tommy wanted to continue with what they were doing before the phone call and it was one of the hardest things he had to do when he pushed Tommy away gently. He closed his eyes when he saw the look of rejection that passed over Tommy’s face.

“I’m sorry. You know that I want to. Hell, if I could, I’d rip those clothes off you and carry you to the bedroom right now,” Adam said, his voice strained.

“Then why don’t you? Adam, we haven’t done it since the first time. I need you. We have time,” Tommy all but begged, and Adam knew that was the hardest temptation he’d ever have to resist. But he did.

“I know, and we will, Tommy. Soon. But we don’t have time. I told Carrie and Rob I’d cook for them and I need to go to the grocery store to get some human food. Then I need to cook it. There just isn’t time,” Adam explained, resting his forehead against Tommy’s.

“Why did you offer?” Tommy asked.

“Because I thought we could tell them about us. I want them to know.”

“No, I didn’t mean why you asked them to come over. I mean why did you offer to cook food?”

“Oh, I like to cook. And I can’t do it for myself anymore, so it’s nice to be able to cook for someone else. Plus, they deserve it. Every now and then they get some blood packs for me for when I go over to theirs.”

Tommy sighed, but smiled and rested his head on Adam’s shoulder. “Soon?”

“Soon,” Adam promised.

“Then, we need to get to the grocery store,” he said, giving Adam one more kiss on the lips before getting ready to go out.

 

“So, what were you thinking of making?” Tommy asked as he trailed behind Adam through the aisles. Adam hummed in thought, picking food up at random and putting it down again.

“I don’t really know.”

“What about making a cake?” Tommy suggested, eyeing the cake mix on one of the shelves.

“I meant real food. Besides, even if I did make a cake, I wouldn’t cheat.”

Tommy shrugged, picking up a packet of rice and holding it up with a raised eyebrow. Adam took it from him, weighing it in his hands and pursing his lips. “I could do a risotto, I guess. I’m gonna have to get some mushrooms to go with it,” he said, his eyes searching until he found what he wanted.

After Tommy had dissuaded him from making dessert, too, they were back home and Adam was spreading the ingredients out on the counter top. He whirled around the kitchen in a blur, getting out saucepans and everything else he needed while Tommy watched him with a smile.

“You do this often then?”

Adam nodded, turning on the cooker and pouring the rice into the pan. “Yeah, I’ve always liked to cook. Plus, there’s no point in having things like a cooker when you’re not going to use them.”

“I guess not. Do you think they’ll react well to us going out?”

Adam turned to him while he waited for the hob to heat up. “I think they will. They really like you and I know they’ve been secretly hoping I’d find someone for a while.” He opened the fridge, getting out a blood pack and handing it to Tommy. “Your eyes are getting dark,” he explained, and Tommy nodded in thanks.

Adam could feel Tommy’s eyes on him while he cooked and every time he looked over to catch those eyes, he found Tommy watching him fondly. It kind of made him want to give Tommy a show, so when he walked back and forth through the kitchen, he may have shaken his ass a little more than was necessary. It was while he was letting the rice cook with the mushrooms on a low temperature that Tommy sauntered over to him, tugging him down for a kiss.

“Tease,” he muttered against Adam’s lips.

“Not a tease. Teases don’t put out and I fully intend to,” Adam answered, winding his arms around Tommy’s waist and just holding him. Tommy dropped his head on Adam’s chest.

“I wish you hadn’t given me that blood now.”

Adam looked down at him in confusion. “Why?”

“At least before the horniness went down pretty quickly because I hadn’t had any blood to help it along. Now you can actually tell that I’m turned on,” Tommy whined. Adam was glad that he hadn’t had any blood yet when he felt something that was definitely not Tommy’s hand poking him in the thigh. He laughed and turned back to the food.

“You’re gonna have to get rid of that before Carrie and Rob arrive.”

Tommy pouted, and Adam knew he did that on purpose because he found it hard to resist those pouty lips. “But I don’t want to have to take care of it myself,” Tommy complained.

“Well, you could wait until we’re alone again,” Adam said, watching as Tommy frowned and then sighed in defeat.

“I’m gonna go in the living room and see if it will go down on its own,” he said, more or less stomping out of the kitchen. Adam chuckled to himself, but he knew that if he had drunk any blood he would be having the same problem. He also knew that he’d have to drink some blood soon because his throat was getting way too dry, and he wished he’d have thought about what he’d said. They wouldn’t have to wait long, though; as soon as Carrie and Rob had gone home he was going to fulfil his promise.

He turned his attention back to the cooking, stirring occasionally and listening in amusement to Tommy’s audible mutters from the other room. When he heard a knock at the door, he turned the heat even lower on the hob and popped his head around the living room door.

“You okay to answer that?” he asked, looking pointedly down at Tommy’s lap. Tommy rolled his eyes and got up.

“It’s gone. But you better make good on that promise,” Tommy said as he went past him to open the door.

“Nothing would please me more!” Adam shouted from where he’d gone back into the kitchen, deciding that the food was done and serving it up on two plates. He wrinkled his nose a little at the smell of the food, but he knew that it would probably smell pretty good to humans. He heard muted voices coming from the hallway and then Tommy was leading Carrie and Rob into the kitchen.

“This smells good,” Rob commented while Carrie ran to hug Adam. He hugged her back before releasing her and hugging Rob, too.

“Thanks for doing this, Adam,” Carrie said, looking at the food on the plates.

“You already know it’s no problem. Now, sit and let me serve it,” Adam ushered them to seats at the table.

“You do know this isn’t a restaurant, don’t you?” Tommy asked while Carrie and Rob laughed.

Adam ruffled his hair playfully when he walked past him to get the plates, setting them down in front of Carrie and Rob. He was tempted to get a blood pack for himself, but he decided to wait until after his friends had eaten their food. He knew they were okay with him being a vampire, but he figured it would be a little off putting to see him drink blood while they were eating.

He sat next to Tommy at the table, watching smugly as they ate with enjoyment.

“This is really good,” Carrie said, and Rob nodded, agreeing.

“Not too bad to say you don’t eat.”

“Well, I _used_ to eat, so that helps. Anyways, how’ve you been? Had to rescue anyone who needed some magical help lately?” Adam asked.

They made small talk for a while until Carrie and Rob had cleared their plates. He had noticed them exchanging those little knowing looks again whenever he looked at Tommy or Tommy talked to him, and he wondered if they hadn’t guessed already what was going on between them. After Tommy insisted that he wash up, Adam got a blood pack and sat at the table again. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

“So, um, I kind of wanted to tell you guys something.”

“Well...spit it out, then.”

“Okay,” Adam looked towards Tommy, but he was still washing up with his back turned to them, and Adam guessed that was his way of getting out of the speech. “Me and Tommy are going out,” he said quickly, looking at their faces to gauge their reactions. Carrie had a huge grin on her face and Rob looked like he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

“I knew it. Good for you, man,” Rob said, giving Adam a pat on the shoulder while Carrie went around the table and gave Tommy a huge hug.

“Take care of him, Tommy,” he heard her whisper to him and Adam couldn’t hear Tommy’s reply, but it must have satisfied Carrie because she released him and smiled widely at Adam.

“Just don’t let him get away,” she said, and Adam watched as Rob gave Tommy a hug in congratulations.

“Trust me, I won’t.”

And it was the truth. Tommy had become the highlight of his life, and he wasn’t going to let go of that.

 

 

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that chapter 15 wasn't showing for some of you, but I've fixed it now if you wanna read it. If you don't want to mess up your reading order, you didn't miss much. It was mainly the boys shopping with Sharlene and Adam helping Tommy a little more :D

                                                                    

 

Adam shut the door after saying goodbye to Carrie and Rob, glad that it had went well. He hadn’t really doubted that it would, but it felt good that everyone knew now.

He walked into the living room and found Tommy curled up on the couch watching television. He hadn’t noticed Adam standing by the door, and Adam hesitated before walking back out unnoticed and going upstairs.

Picking up towels on his way, Adam went into the bathroom and ran water into the tub. Once it was high enough, he poured a little bath foam in and swirled it round, smiling to himself as he went downstairs to get Tommy. This time Tommy heard his footsteps when he walked in and he looked up at Adam with warm brown eyes.

“Come upstairs and I’ll make good on my promise,” Adam said with a smirk, taking Tommy’s hand and leading him upstairs. When he led him into the bathroom instead of the bedroom, Tommy frowned in confusion.

“Get in,” Adam gestured to the bath that was filled with water. Tommy paused before stripping and getting in, sighing when he relaxed back against the tub. Adam took off his clothes and followed Tommy in, sitting opposite him with their legs touching. Immediately, Tommy moved closer until he was seated in Adam’s lap, his breath ghosting over Adam’s skin. Adam shivered, pulling Tommy to him until he caught his lips. Adam moaned when Tommy gave little licks into his mouth, his hands coming up to grip the sides of his hips.

He felt Tommy trail a hand up his stomach until he found his nipple, alternating between pinching and rubbing it as Adam thrust up into whatever part of Tommy’s body that he could. Breathing harder when Tommy’s dick brushed against his own, Adam pulled away from the kiss.

“You look so good like this. So hot and wet and mine,” he said, brushing Tommy’s hair back from his face. Tommy drew back and leaned back for something, then reached behind himself. Adam was too aroused to look at what he was doing before he heard Tommy’s breath hitch and realised that he was prepping himself. He noticed the lotion that Tommy must have used on the side of the bathtub. He reached for his cock, stroking lazily until Tommy put a hand over his to stop him.

“No, you told me to wait earlier, you have to, too,” Tommy gasped out.

Adam pulled his hand back and bit his lip at the sight in front of him. Tommy’s neck was stretched out, his eyes closed as he moved his fingers inside of him. Adam knew that Tommy had hit his prostate when he arched his back with a quiet cry, and it took all of his strength not to touch himself or reach out to touch Tommy.

“I need you inside me, Adam. I wanna feel you,” Tommy keened, still moving in time with his fingers.

“Fuck,Tommy, you have no idea how much I want you,” Adam clenched his hands into fists as he fought the urge to touch.

Tommy slid his fingers out of his ass and shifted closer to Adam again. He moved his lips to his ear. “I’m ready. I want you.”

Adam wrapped his hand loosely around Tommy’s throat, tilting his head to get the angle just right and crushing their lips together. When they broke apart he reached for his dick and positioned it at Tommy’s hole. Stroking a hand over Tommy’s thigh, Adam waited until Tommy relaxed and nudged his cock in further, his head dropping back at the wet heat that surrounded him. Tommy held onto the edges of the bathtub as he slowly sank down onto Adam’s length, his eyes fluttering shut.

“Been wanting this all day, Adam. Needed this.”

Adam kissed at Tommy’s throat and thrust up into him, listening in pleasure to Tommy’s answering moan. “Me, too, baby. You feel so tight around me. So good.”

Tommy rolled his hips, riding him while his dick rubbed on Adam’s chest every time he moved. Adam looked down to see the faint spot of precome that had smeared on his chest, trailing a finger through it and putting it into his mouth, sucking on it while remaining eye contact with Tommy.

“Fucker,” Tommy hissed, his hand reaching for his dick as the water sloshed over the edges of the bath. Adam’s thrusts up started getting erratic and then he felt Tommy’s lips on his neck, sucking gently before fangs pierced his skin. He cried out at the pain that was quickly drowned out by the pleasure. He could feel Tommy pulling blood out of him as he stroked himself and Adam thrust up into him. Adam felt his balls draw up before he came in Tommy, repeating his name like it was his own personal mantra. Tommy shuddered against him and his ass clenched around his dick when he pulled his mouth away from Adam’s neck, his lips red with Adam’s blood.

His neck was stinging and probably covered in blood, too, but Adam ignored it and pressed butterfly kisses to Tommy’s skin. As his kisses led to Tommy’s neck, he realised that he didn’t have a scar there like most vampires did. He wondered why, but then forgot about it when Tommy licked the blood away from his lips, smiling at Adam.

“You taste good,” he said, leaning over him and lapping up the blood that he had missed before breathing over it and healing it. He lifted up and Adam felt his dick slip out of Tommy.

“Worth the wait?” Adam asked, pulling Tommy into his arms and petting his hair.

“Totally worth the wait. I take back what I said when I called you a tease,” Tommy said, leaning up into Adam’s touch.

“Told you, didn’t I?”

They lay there for a few moments, basking in the afterglow until they started washing the come and blood off them. Tommy looked over the edge of the tub when he reached for a towel.

“I think we kinda made a mess,” he said, pointing at the pool of water that was on the floor.

“I’ll clean it up. You get dry and then warm the bed for us.”

 

When Adam had gotten dry, emptied the bath water and cleaned up the mess they had made, he went into the bedroom, unable to hide his smile when he all he saw was some blonde hair peeking out from under the covers. He climbed in beside Tommy, burrowing under the covers until he was face to face with him. He moved his legs closer to Tommy’s to try and get some warmth off him, laughing when Tommy yelped and jerked back.

“Sometimes I swear you use me for my warmth.”

“Damn, I thought you’d never guess,” Adam joked, resting a hand on the lower end of Tommy’s back. Tommy wrapped an arm around Adam’s waist in response.

“That was amazing. Thank you,” Tommy whispered. Adam kissed Tommy’s nose, sniggering when Tommy scrunched it up. Adam would never know how Tommy could go from hot to adorable in just a few minutes.

“Thank _you_.”

They were silent for a couple of minutes, their steady breathing the only thing that could be heard. It was then that Adam remembered something what he had discovered in the bath.

“You don’t have a scar on your neck. I never noticed that before,” he commented.

Tommy shook his head. “I wasn’t bitten there. I have mine on my wrist,” he said, holding it out for Adam to see. Adam examined it, finding a tiny pink scar when he looked closely.

“It’s rare for vampires to be bitten anywhere but the neck. I mean, it’s not unheard of, but it’s rare.”

“I guess that’s because when I was bitten it wasn’t planned like it usually is.”

Adam tilted his head. “Drogen didn’t plan to change you?”

“Well, he planned to change _someone_. But he hadn’t planned for me specifically, no,” Tommy explained.

“Did he tell you why he changed you?” Adam asked, even though he knew the real answer. Drogen had simply wanted to add to his army. But of course Tommy wouldn’t have been told that.

“He said he wanted to give people this life. He said it was a waste if everyone was human, and he wanted to contribute to the vampire world.”

Adam stroked his thumb over Tommy’s back soothingly. Vampires usually planned who they were going to change and asked them first, whether they had grown fond of the person or they only wanted them for sex, like Morissey did. He imagined how scared Tommy must have been then, not knowing what was happening and not making the choice for himself. Adam himself hadn’t had the choice, either, but at least he had had Marcus to help him understand. He doubted Drogen would be much of a comfort.

“Where were you when he bit you?” he asked.

“I was coming out of a bar with my friends. I’d just waved them off and was walking home alone when he grabbed me from behind and changed me.”

Adam could almost smell the fear that Tommy had been feeling and he hated Drogen more now that he knew what he had put Tommy through. It made even more sense to Adam now, though, how Tommy was so believing of Drogen. It must have been hard for him to trust Drogen at first, and after he had gained Tommy’s trust, he could imagine that Tommy had become dependent on it. After all, he was the only thing he had in his vampire life.

“What happened when you changed?” Tommy asked quietly.

“It wasn’t my choice either. I was attacked by a gang. They mugged me and left me for dead,” he felt Tommy stiffen in his arms and continued, “Marcus found me. He couldn’t bear to just leave someone to die, so he did the only thing that could save me and bit me.”

Adam bared his neck a little for Tommy to see the scar there. He could remember waking up and being terrified, but Marcus had calmed him almost instantly. He’d always known he could trust Marcus.

“Did they...find them? The people who did that to you?” Tommy asked, and Adam noted that he sounded angry.

“We couldn’t go to the police with my attack because I was meant to be dead. Marcus told me it would be better if we found out more on them and busted them for that. So that’s what we did. We found where they went to most nights. We followed them around for months trying to get something on them. Then one night we saw them corner another guy and do the same that they did to me. We called the police, trapped the men there while we waited and then got out of the way when the police arrived. They got thrown in jail for attempted murder.”

Adam felt Tommy relax in his arms again and fall silent. “What were you like when you were human?” he asked suddenly.

“Hmm?”

“I mean, what was your life like then?”

“I was like the only openly gay kid in school, so I was pretty shy in my school years. But once I left school I grew in confidence, just tried to enjoy life as best as I could without thinking about what people thought of me. What about you?”

“I was the kid with the weird haircut. Well, until I started playing in bands. Then I was the kid with the weird haircut who was suddenly cool because I played guitar.”

Adam smiled. “People can be stupid sometimes. They don’t realise that life’s too short to worry about how other people look or what they’re doing.”

Tommy nodded, tracing circles absentmindedly into Adam’s chest. He looked like he was deep in thought, and Adam let it stay silent before curiosity got the best of him. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Just how sappy you make me sometimes. I’m not usually like that.”

“I like sappy Tommy just as much as I like fierce Tommy,” Adam told him.

"That's good to know," Tommy said before curling up closer in Adam's arms. Adam rested his chin on Tommy's head and closed his eyes, ready for sleep to take him over.

 

 


	18. Chapter 18

                                                                   

 

 

Adam had gotten a phone call earlier in the day from Anna, asking if she could come around and discuss something with him. He figured that it must have been important if she didn’t want to talk about it on the phone and had said yes. So, when he opened the door to Anna plus Marcus, Sharlene and Morissey, he was even more confused.

“I didn’t know everyone was coming over,” he said as he opened the door for them to come in.

“It wasn’t going to be everyone, but we decided that everyone should have the chance to express their opinion.”

Adam noticed the way she glanced at Sharlene and he wondered if she had insisted to come to express her opinion.

“Umm, okay? What’s this all about?” he asked, going into the living room and sitting down on the couch.

Anna sighed. “It’s about Tommy.”

Adam gritted his teeth. He thought that they’d already had this conversation, but it seemed that they wanted to push it even more. “What about Tommy?”

“I don’t think you should trust him,” she said.

Adam narrowed his eyes. “It’s not up to you who I should trust.”

“Adam, we’re just trying to look out for you. You don’t know him well enough to be certain that he’s being truthful to you.”

“We’ve been living together for months now. People who’ve been going out for a year haven’t been spending as much time together as we have. We’re around each other more or less 24/7. I’m pretty sure I _do_ know him well enough.”

He couldn’t believe they were talking about this with him again. It wasn’t like anything was going to have him doubting Tommy, so there was no point in even attempting to sway him.

“I’m happy, the happiest I’ve been since Kris died. And you, as my friends, I thought that you’d want that for me,” Adam said. He really hoped that Tommy couldn’t hear what was being said from upstairs. He didn’t need to hear the people Adam loved trying to persuade him that he shouldn’t be with him.

“You know I want to be happy for you. I _would_ be happy for you if it wasn’t for the situation we’re in,” Marcus spoke up.

“So, what do you want me to do? Break it off with him?”

Marcus nodded, a guilty look in his eyes. “That would be the best thing to do. At least until after the plan has been carried out.”

“You don’t get it, do you? I’d be miserable without Tommy.”

Anna put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her. “Have you ever thought that he could be...using you?”

Adam shook his head quickly. “No.”

“It could be a possibility,” Morissey started, but cut off when Adam shot him a glare.

“Adam, think about it, please,” Marcus said quietly.

Adam ran a hand through his hair and stood up. “I don’t believe this. Have you ever thought that he might actually want to be with me? That it’s not some game he’s playing?”

Marcus looked at his feet. “I don’t know what to think. I just know that there could be a chance he’s using you. And I don’t want you to take that chance.”

Adam closed his eyes against the anger that coursed through his veins. It hurt to hear Marcus speak like this, but he knew that he was just trying to protect him like he always did. He didn’t want to see him get hurt all over again. He got that. But it didn’t stop him from wanting to yell at them that they were wrong.

“You know that it would hurt him if you kill Drogen, and he could be using that against you. He could easily convince you to not go ahead with what you’ve planned. Then, he’d be free to leave and go back to Drogen. We’d be back at square one,” Anna said.

“He’s not a liar. He wouldn’t do that to me.”

He watched as she sighed again wearily. “You know, part of me is telling you this because we need you to continue with the plan and get rid of Drogen. But another part of me just doesn’t want you to get your heart broken. Surely, you can understand that.”

“Yes, I can understand that. But I’m a grown man. I should be able to make my own decisions.”

“When you’re with someone, you can be blind to what they’re really like. You might be seeing all of these nice things about him, but you could be overlooking the signs. You told us that Drogen shows a different side to Tommy. Tommy could have learned this from him, how to put on a show.”

“He’s not anything like Drogen!” Adam shouted.

“He’s lived with him for two years, how certain can you be of that?” Anna asked.

Sharlene, who had been standing silently in the corner of the room the whole time, stepped forward and slid her hand into Adam’s. He felt her squeeze it and managed to send a smile her way.

“I’ve met Tommy. I’ve talked to him. He seems genuine and he doesn’t look like he’d want to hurt anyone. Especially not Adam. The way they act around each other, it’s beautiful to watch. I think you should all see that, not these doubts that you keep thinking up,” she said, and Adam could have hugged her for it. She was the only one who had seen them together as a couple. He wondered if any of the others had seen them like that they would change their minds about their relationship.

“I’m sorry, but we need to think of these things. Just in case anything happens,” Marcus said.

“How many times do I have to tell you that nothing’s going to happen? Just believe me, please,” Adam begged.

“It may not seem like it, Adam, but I really do hope that you’re right. I want you to keep this happiness and for it to be real. We all do. But we can’t just think about you. We have to think about the whole of our kind, too, and how dangerous it would be if you didn’t end up killing Drogen. He’d end up being our leader and all of his sick beliefs would be enforced. We can’t live like that,” Anna explained.

“Yeah, we can’t just risk the future of our kind so that you can get it on with your new found twink,” Morissey piped up.

“Will you shut up?”

Morissey rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay. Christ, it’s like you can’t take a joke anymore. It’s true, though. We have to think of all of the risks that could be involved to keep us safe.”

He kind of hated that it made sense. But he had complete faith in what he had with Tommy. Even that hint of logic in their argument wouldn’t make him do what they wanted.

“I don’t think we really have any right to tell you to break up with him,” Morissey said, looking at Anna and Marcus pointedly before continuing, “but I think we have a right to ask you to be careful. As long as you go through with the plan in the end, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Adam cocked his head to the side. “Why do I feel like you’re kind of taking my side?”

“Do I always have to go against what you say?”

Adam shrugged. “I guess not.”

“There you go, then. Besides, I wouldn’t mind you sticking with him and bringing him to the meetings every now and then. He’s some good eye candy,” Morissey said with a huge smirk.

Adam deliberately turned away from him as Marcus spoke.

“It isn’t just that, though. Yes, you could still go through with the plan, but what if he _was_ playing you?”

“Marcus, I know that you worry about me getting heartbroken all over again, but Tommy isn’t playing me.”

“You never know...”

“I do know,” Adam snapped. He didn’t mean to, but he had had enough of going over the same damn things again and again.

Just then, he heard the door to his right creak open. “Hey, I heard shouting and I wanted to see if you were okay.”

Tommy came into the room, only to back out again as he saw all of them standing in a circle with mixed expressions. “Um, I’ll leave you to it. Didn’t mean to interrupt...”

Adam shook his head. “No, come here.”

Tommy looked confused, but Adam held out his arm and he slipped under it after a few moments hesitation. Anna broke the silence.

“We’ll go now. Think about what we said?”

“I don’t need to think about it,” he said firmly.

Anna gave him something close to a smile. “I did mean what I said, about wanting you to be right.”

They filed out one by one, Sharlene giving them a reassuring smile as she passed and Marcus putting his arms around Adam in a hug.

“I’m sorry. Really, I am. I just don’t know what to think about all of this,” he said over his shoulder before pulling back and patting him on the arm.

“It’s okay.”

He nodded at Tommy with a smile and Adam appreciated that he wasn’t just ignoring him because of the doubts he had about him.

Once they were all gone, he went back to Tommy, finding him standing there with his arms wrapped around himself. “What was that all about?”

Adam bit his lip, trying to decide whether to tell Tommy the truth or not. Of course, he already knew that they weren’t particularly fond of the relationship they had, but them coming over just to talk about that was a little different. His indecision must have been written all over his face because Tommy moved closer to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“It was about me, wasn’t it?” he asked softly.

Adam looked down at him, at the wide eyes looking up at him. He wished he could say no, but he couldn’t lie when he was faced with those eyes. “Yeah.”

Tommy nodded slowly. “They really don’t like me, do they?”

“It’s not that. They _would_ like you if they just gave you a chance. But they think you could be using me so that you can persuade me not to kill Drogen.”

“You don’t believe it, do you?”

Adam frowned and shook his head. “Of course not.”

“Only I _did_ try and persuade you not to kill Drogen, didn’t I? I’m not using you, but I’ve done what they don’t want me to be doing regardless.”

“That’s different. You didn’t plan for any of this to happen, did you? You didn’t plan for us to happen?” Adam asked, waiting for the shake of Tommy’s head before continuing. “Then it’s nothing like what they said. Look, we don’t need to have any doubts about each other.”

Tommy looked at his feet and Adam cupped his chin in one hand and lifted his head back up. “You don’t have any doubts about me, do you?”

“It’s stupid.”

“You can tell me.”

“Sometimes...I wonder if I’m kind of a replacement for Kris,” Tommy admitted, letting his hair fall into his face so that his eyes were hidden. Adam went over Tommy’s words in his head.   

“Why would you think that?”

“I guess because I’m the only person you’ve been with since he...you know.”

Adam wished he would have told him before. He hadn’t known Tommy had ever felt like this and he could have reassured him so many times that it wasn’t the case. But he decided that it was better late than never. He draped his arms over Tommy’s shoulders, bringing him closer with a nudge.

“Tommy, you couldn’t replace Kris,” he started, noticing the wave of hurt that passed over Tommy’s face. He rushed quickly to take that look away. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that you’re so different that you couldn’t replace him. And I wouldn’t want you to. You’re separate people.

“Okay, at first I guess I did try and look for similarities between you two. You both played guitar and you both could make me feel. But you’re different in so many other ways. You have completely different senses of humour, different styles and different attitudes.”

A small smile was on Tommy’s face and Adam kissed it to get it wider. “Please never think that I want you to be somebody else. You’re amazing, gorgeous and I’m so lucky to be able to call you mine.”

Tommy stroked a finger down the side of Adam’s face, giggling when it got close to Adam’s lips and he nipped at it playfully. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Adam said, leaning into the hug Tommy gave him. Over Tommy’s shoulder, he caught a glint of light and followed it to the photo of Kris on the mantelpiece.

A year and a half. A year and a half and only now he was realising that he’d finally moved on. Looking at the photo, he didn’t feel that sadness inside anymore, that ache that always used to be there even at the thought of Kris. Now he could look at that picture and remember the times they had shared together.

It was Tommy. All of it, the moving on, the happiness. It all came back to Tommy. And to think that he’d thought his revenge would be the thing that would let him move on. He knew now that he was wrong. But he still needed to bring justice. It would be an insult to Kris’ memory if he let the person who had murdered him walk away free.

As he and Tommy stood wrapped up in each other’s arms, he knew what he had to do. It was something small that might not even seem like a lot to someone looking in, but it was a big deal to him.  It was something he should have done a long time ago.

 

 


	19. Chapter 19

                                                                        

 

Adam was sitting in the living room gazing at the newly blank space on the mantelpiece when Tommy came in. He sat down next to him, following Adam’s gaze and gasping slightly when he saw what was missing.

“I had to do it. It was like I was trying to keep him alive, having it there on display,” Adam explained. He felt Tommy’s hand cover his in his lap, warm and comforting.

“Where have you put it?”

“In the attic. I can’t really explain it but...I feel good about it.”

Tommy brushed some of his hair back and Adam smiled at the touch. “That’s great. Seriously, this is a huge step for you.”

Adam turned so that he was sitting facing him, his knees touching Tommy’s. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve made me realise that I can love again,” Adam whispered.

Tommy blinked in surprise. “Love?”

Adam took hold of Tommy’s other hand, too. “Yeah, love. I love everything about you, when you’re being sexy and cute, or when you’re being bitchy and bossy. I don’t know how I didn’t see it coming sooner, but I’ve been falling for you harder every day.”

Adam yelped when Tommy tackled him to the ground, a grin taking over his face. “You _would_ say about me being bitch in a speech about loving me.”

“It’s the truth.”

Tommy leaned down quickly, giving Adam the fiercest kiss he’d ever gotten from him. Adam moaned into it, threading his fingers through Tommy’s hair to keep him there. Tommy gave into him for a while before pulling back a little, only inches from Adam’s lips.

“Fuck, this isn’t going to sound nearly as romantic as how you said it. But I love you,” Tommy said seriously. Adam felt his heart expand at Tommy’s words and he smiled so hard it ached.

“You know what? That was totally the Tommy way of saying I love you. So it was kinda perfect.”

“ _You’re_ kinda perfect,” Tommy replied, swiping his tongue against Adam’s bottom lip. Adam reeled him back in, loving the feel of Tommy’s lips against his. He didn’t think he could feel any happier than he did right now, lying on the ground with Tommy a warm weight on top of him. As much as they wanted to never stop kissing, it felt pretty weird not to breathe. Not that they weren’t able to survive without taking any air in, but it was a habit now that was too difficult to break. So, after five minutes of kissing with no breaks in between, they broke apart and Adam breathed in deeply.

Tommy leaned up on one elbow, looking at Adam thoughtfully. “I know you told me why you’d put the picture away, but none of what I said last night made you think that you had to, did it?”

“No. It _was_ last night that I decided I should do it, but it wasn’t because of what you said.”

Tommy smiled in relief. “Good. I wanted you to do that because you wanted to. I’m really proud of you, you know.”

Adam sat up, lifting his arm up for Tommy to slide under, their bodies fitting perfectly against each other. “I don’t know where I’d be right now without you. I mean, I wasn’t in such a bad place before, but it wasn’t anything like it is now,” Adam said. He felt a shiver run through him when Tommy kissed his neck, right over where his vampire scar was.

“You’ve always been strong. I think you would have arrived at this stage without me anyway.”

“I don’t know about that,” Adam replied, nuzzling into Tommy’s hair and breathing in his scent. He laughed as Tommy batted him away and he was planning on annoying Tommy some more, because an annoyed Tommy was hilarious, when the phone rang.

He groaned, messing up Tommy’s hair quickly before heaving himself up and heading towards the phone. He heard Tommy grumble and was still chuckling to himself when he answered the phone. He stopped, however, when he heard how serious Marcus sounded on the other end.

“Is something the matter?”

“Adam, Drogen’s given us the word,” Marcus said, and Adam knew what that meant. He glanced over at Tommy, but he was too far away to hear anything Adam said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he wants Tommy back.”

Adam felt his heart drop. This was it. It was the moment he’d been waiting for for a year and a half, but it was also the moment he’d been dreading for months now. He had no idea what was going to happen. He was going to kill Drogen, of that he was sure. But the rest was a big unknown to him and he hated that a lot of that unknown was what Tommy’s reaction would be. He hadn’t prepared himself for this. The fight was fine, he was ready for that, but he really didn’t want Tommy to look at him with hate instead of love in his eyes.

“That was quick,” he managed to say to cover up the silence.

“It’s been months. We knew it was going to happen sometime.”

“Why now?” Adam asked.

“It looks like he heard from a witness about Tommy’s power. He obviously thinks he needs him back in his army and believes there’s a chance he’ll win against you,” Marcus explained.

Adam pinched the line between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He wished now that he hadn’t taken Tommy out to that club. Drogen wouldn’t have known about Tommy’s power and he wouldn’t want him back so soon. They could have had more time.

“Right. When do I have to go there, then?”

“It will be this afternoon. We don’t want to give you too much time that you’ll think about it too much. It will just make you more nervous,” Adam was about to say that he wasn’t nervous, not about killing Drogen anyway, when Marcus carried on talking, “But we’ll need to take Tommy there pretty soon.”

“What? Why?”

“You said it in the letter to Drogen, remember? We’d take Tommy to him first to keep up our end of the deal and then you would go later to have the fight,” Marcus reminded him.

Adam wanted to tell him that that was before. The letter had said that Drogen’s son or daughter would be brought back to him first. It wasn’t Tommy to him back then. He wished he could go back in time to rewrite his words. He just wanted as much time with Tommy as possible.

“I’m sorry, Adam. But when Drogen’s dead, Tommy can go back to you, right?” Marcus said, and Adam was grateful that Marcus hadn’t mentioned anything about his doubts. He sighed when he thought of how to answer.

“Yeah, he can. If he doesn’t hate me, that is.”

“Oh, because of you killing Drogen? Adam, I’m sure he won’t hate you,” Marcus reassured him.

“I’m hoping he won’t. I know he’ll be angry, but I’ve told him what Drogen’s done and I want him to be able to see it from my point of view. I can take him being angry, Marcus, I really can, but I can’t take him hating me,” Adam’s voice broke a little at the end.

“You can’t think about that right now. What happens happens. You can’t change that, Adam.”

Adam closed his eyes. “I know.”

“And please be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt. Just don’t take any risks out there that you don’t need to take.”

“I won’t. Thank you. I guess I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Yeah. It’ll all be over with soon. Just remember that,” Marcus said, hanging up. Adam kept the phone held to his ear for a few minutes before putting it down.

He went back over to where Tommy was sat, remembering how only a few minutes ago he had felt so happy sitting here, enjoying Tommy’s love that he had felt surrounding him. It was amazing how fast that could change.

Tommy rested his head on Adam’s shoulder. “You feel tense. Are you okay?”

Adam didn’t answer, unsure of what to say.

“Was it something to do with who was on the phone?”

Adam nodded and Tommy lifted his head from Adam’s shoulder, looking at Adam with sharp eyes. “And are you gonna give me any more information than that?”

He could smell Tommy’s worry and he knew he had to say something. “It was Marcus. Drogen’s asked for you back.”

Tommy froze and fell silent. Adam wondered if he’d been dreading this day as much as he had. Finally, he spoke. “What happens now, then?”

“You have to go back before I go there by myself. Drogen will want to know that I’ve kept up my end of the deal.”

“And then?” Tommy asked hollowly.

“And then I’ll fight him until it’s over,” he said, not wanting to say until he was dead. Tommy knew what he meant, though, and nodded slowly.

“Please think about this.”

“Don’t. I already _have_ thought about it, dozens of times. I wouldn’t be doing it if I hadn’t,” Adam said.

“You can’t kill him. He may not have been a father to me like Marcus has been to you, but he’s still my maker. I haven’t been without him since I became a vampire.”

Adam ran a hand through his hair. “Please don’t plead with me like that. I have to do this. Not just so that I can put the man who murdered Kris to justice, but for the vampire race. Deep down, Tommy, you know that.”

“Nothing’s gonna change your mind, is it?”

“No. I’m sorry. Just promise me you won’t hate me when this is done,” Adam begged.

Tommy put a hand on his cheek. “I could never hate you. Not even if I wanted to. I love you, Adam.”

Adam gave him a small smile. He just had to believe in that, that Tommy wouldn’t hate him. That was what could get him through this. “I love you, too.”

Tommy’s hand slipped from Adam’s cheek to his neck, and he felt warmth spread over his body. “How long until I have to go?”

Adam looked towards the clock and then back at Tommy. “Probably only about ten minutes. I have to have enough time to prepare.”

“You know I don’t want you to do this, but nothing I say will stop you from doing it. I know that. So I’ll just say this. Be careful, please. If you get hurt, I’m gonna end up having to kick your ass for it later.”

Adam laughed, but he hated how sad it sounded and stopped almost immediately so he didn’t have to hear it. “I’m sure you will. And I’ll be careful, I promise.”

“He has some good powers, just don’t underestimate him completely. He may not have been trained with them, but he can use them and all it takes is one lucky hit,” Tommy let out a little whimper and Adam pulled him into his arms, hands stroking over his back and hair.

“I know what I’m doing. Don’t worry about me,” Adam shushed him.

“How can I not worry about you? You’re going in for a fight that is only gonna have one person walking out at the end of it. I fucking love you, you can’t stop me from worrying,” Tommy said, his hands clenching on Adam’s shirt.

“I know, baby, but I’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” Tommy murmured, taking his head off Adam’s chest and staring up at him. “Do you have weapons?”

“Yeah, I have a stake ready.”

Tommy glared. “Only one?”

“It’ll be enough. I have my strength, too. That gives me a certain advantage.”

“I sound so bad,” Tommy said suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

Tommy threw his hands up. “There I was, telling you not to kill Drogen and now I’m asking you if you have weapons to kill him with. The thing is I really don’t want you to go through with the plan. But if you do...I’d want you to win. If Drogen died, I’d be upset, of course I would. But with you...I honestly don’t know what I’d do.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Drogen has been good to me, but he’s never been anything like a father like a maker’s supposed to be. And you’ve been so many things for me, my best friend and my boyfriend at the same time. You’ve helped me be a better person. I can never thank you enough for that.”

Adam was about to gather Tommy up close and tell him every little thing about him that he loved when he heard the sound of gravel near the house. He stood and looked out the window, seeing Marcus’ car waiting outside. He looked back at Tommy.

“It’s time.”

Tommy nodded, taking Adam’s hand and pulling himself up, not letting go when they walked through the front door and to the side of the car. Marcus was willing to give them a few moments, but Adam knew that they didn’t have much time. Drogen would want Tommy back as soon as possible.

Tommy took a deep breath as he stood facing Adam. “Remember what I said, okay? Be careful and don’t let yourself get hurt.”

“I won’t. I’ll be well prepared by the time I get there,” Adam said confidently, hoping it would calm Tommy some.

Tommy turned to the car, about to open the door before he paused, span around and threw his arms round him. Adam staggered back, then clasped his arms around Tommy, never wanting to let go. He lifted Tommy off his feet and whispered into his ear.

“Love you.”

He smiled when he heard Tommy say the words back to him. It was never going to get old and Adam hoped that they’d be able to say it many more times in the future. He couldn’t lose this.

Eventually, they loosened their arms and withdrew from each other, Tommy quickly climbing into the back seat of the car. The door shut behind him and all too soon Marcus was driving away. Adam stayed outside until the car was a spot in the distance, then went back inside with a heavy heart. He’d have to wait in this empty house without Tommy until Marcus came back and helped him with some training before the fight.

Already, he knew it was going to be a long and lonely wait.

 

 


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter switches between Adam and Tommy's pov's. You'll see why I had to do this when you read it. Hope you enjoy!

                                                                          

**Tommy’s POV**

 

Tommy sat in the backseat of Marcus’ car, his mind running through how quickly things had changed. One minute, he was laughing with Adam without a care in the world and the next he was talking to Adam as if those were their last moments together. He winced when his thoughts took that direction. He had to believe that Adam was going to be okay to get through the morning.

Not being able to bear the uncomfortable silence any longer, he looked towards Marcus, who was staring straight ahead with a frown. He remembered that he’d probably be worrying about Adam just as much as he was.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?”

 “He has the weapon and the skill. He’s going to be fine.”

Tommy could hear that his voice was slightly strained despite his words. “But you’re still worried about him?”

Marcus sighed. “Yes. It’s going to be dangerous. I won’t lie about that. And I know that Adam has the best chance of winning, but I can’t help worrying.”

“Neither can I,” Tommy whispered.

It was silent again before Marcus spoke again. “Tell me now, was I right?”

“About me playing Adam?”

“Yeah.”

“No, you weren’t. I never had a plan to stop him from killing Drogen or for him to let me go,” Tommy said.

“So...you really like him?” Marcus asked, and Tommy wondered if that was hope in his voice.

“I love him.”

Tommy saw Marcus’ eyes go wide in the rear-view mirror. “Love?”

“Yeah, love,” Tommy answered, echoing Adam’s words from earlier.

“Wow. I could see there was something serious going on, but I didn’t know whether that was you just being a good actor.”

Tommy didn’t reply, his mind filled with pictures of Adam. Adam in the morning when he was sleepy and cute, Adam in the mirror putting on his makeup carefully, Adam looking at him with loving eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Marcus said suddenly, “I might have thought you were a good actor, but I don’t think anyone could fake looking this miserable.”

“I don’t really know how I should take that,” Tommy said, trying for a smile.

Marcus’ eyes crinkled at the corners. “Take it as a compliment. I couldn’t doubt your feelings for him when you look like you’ve lost an arm.”

“Thanks. I just can’t wait until this is over with.”

“I feel the same way.”

Tommy fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. “How is he going to be preparing?”

Marcus hesitated, as if he was unsure whether he wanted to hear information on how Adam was preparing to kill Drogen. Tommy was unsure, too, but he needed to know that Adam was prepared well enough.

“When I’ve dropped you off, I’m going to go back and do some last minute training with him. We’ll get the stake after that and the rest of the meeting group will come with us to take him to Drogen’s. Then, he’s on his own.”

Tommy swallowed. He knew that Adam was strong and able to take care of himself, but he hated thinking of him having to go in there alone.

“He’s worried you’ll hate him when Drogen’s dead,” Marcus stated.

Tommy nodded. “I know. I won’t hate him. I don’t really know how I’ll feel yet, but I know I won’t hate him.”

“Just remember, it’s Adam or Drogen. Only one of them can win this fight. And I’m not telling you to choose or anything, but it all comes down to who you can’t live without.”

Tommy knew that. He also knew he’d be angry and upset if Drogen died, but with Adam it would be completely different. If Adam died, he was sure he’d fall apart.

 

 

**Adam’s POV**

Adam was sat near the window, looking out as the rain pattered steadily. He wondered what Tommy was doing now, if he was still in the car or if he’d arrived at Drogen’s already.

He hoped he was okay. He didn’t want Tommy to worry about him, but he knew that if things were the other way round he’d be just as worried for Tommy.

Trying to clear his head, he paced the room to the rhythm of the rain. It didn’t work, just made him even more impatient for Marcus to get back. At least then he would have something to do to take his mind of things. This waiting was torture.

Even though he had lived with Drogen for two years without any problems, Adam still didn’t like Tommy being alone with him. He could imagine Drogen asking questions about his time here, prying for a weakness that might help him in the fight. It was good that Tommy knew what Drogen was like now, even if he didn’t believe that he had been using him all along. Tommy wouldn’t fall for it. He’d know that he wasn’t just asking him out of curiosity and Adam knew that he wouldn’t answer with anything that would give Drogen the upper hand.

He thought about how it seemed Tommy wanted him to win. He understood why of course; Tommy didn’t want him to be killed. But he had expected Tommy to try and convince him even more to just put a stop to the fight so nobody got hurt. He must have seen that Adam wasn’t going to back down. And he wasn’t. Although the circumstances had changed, he still needed to do this. He wasn’t going to let anyone down and he certainly wasn’t going to let Drogen get away with what he had done and possibly do it again.

He just hoped Drogen hadn’t found anything out about his relationship with Tommy. He didn’t really know what to do if he used that against him and he didn’t trust Drogen not to threaten Tommy just to save his own back.

He stilled his pacing when he heard a car pull up outside and ran to the window to see Marcus getting out of the car. He sighed with relief, too impatient to wait for Marcus to come in and heading to the front door to meet him there. He needed to know how Tommy was before they got on with anything or he wasn’t going to be able to concentrate at all.

 

**Tommy’s POV**

He walked up to the gates guarding the familiar building, watching them open when he was recognised. He smiled at the head guard, who waved at him stiffly.

“Hi, Tommy. Drogen’s waiting for you in his office.”

“Thanks Mark,” Tommy said before heading towards the double doors leading into the building. He walked through the long halls towards the direction of Drogen’s office, not having to use the directions on the walls to help him. As he listened to the echo of his footsteps, he realised that he almost felt like an outsider walking through his former home. He didn’t know whether it was a side effect from the blood Marcus had given him in the car that was more cold than warm. Or maybe it was because he’d been away for so long and he didn’t feel like he belonged here anymore. He belonged with Adam, that was one thing he knew, and Adam wasn’t here.

He looked around at the familiar paintings and statues that he hadn’t seen in what felt like ages. He noticed that he didn’t really miss anything that came with his life here. He hadn’t had bad memories here, but none of them were worthy of looking back on with fondness. As he reflected back on the two years he had lived here, he thought about how boring life had been for him. Sure, he had been allowed to go out and do what he wanted, but it hadn’t been anything quite like what he had experienced with Adam.

Tommy let his feet take the winding route to Drogen’s office while his head was somewhere else entirely. He thought about how much he had grown since he had left this place. He’d gotten morals and was able to control his bloodlust now. He could control his ability and use it whenever he wanted. He could only thank Adam for all of those things, and thinking of that just made Tommy want to go back home. Because that’s what it was to him now. Home.

When he reached the door of Drogen’s office he opened it, seeing him leaning against the edge of his desk, his foot tapping as he waited. Tommy stepped in closer so that Drogen could see he was here.

It was strange seeing him after months of being in completely different company. Obviously he didn’t look any different, but it felt different to stand with him here like this. Tommy guessed that it was because of what he’d found out about him since he’d last seen him. He’d always seen him as a good person, if a little distant sometimes, but now all he could think about was how Drogen had killed Kris in cold blood. No matter how he looked at it, that wasn’t what a good person would do.

He tried to shake off the thoughts, remembering that this was most likely the last time he would see him. He may not have agreed with what Drogen had done in his past, but he wouldn’t hurt Tommy. He didn’t want his last memories with his maker to be tarnished with Tommy questioning him about what he’d done.

“Tommy,” Drogen greeted him, opening his arms wide. Tommy blinked in surprise. They’d never hugged before, but he returned the hug just the same.

“Hey,” Tommy said softly, pulling back from the hug and smiling up at him. He didn’t really know what to say. This could be their last conversation.

“I’ve missed you,” Drogen said, and Tommy chewed on his lip, not sure how to respond. He didn’t really want to lie, but he _hadn’t_ missed Drogen all that much.

He remembered then how long he had been gone for and without thinking his mouth opened. “Why did you take so long to get me back?”

He didn’t mean for it to sound accusatory, but he had to admit that it did. He saw Drogen slowly lift an eyebrow.

“Well, I was going to try and make some nice small talk before I said anything. But we can skip the pleasantries. Might as well start as I mean to go on,” Drogen said, a smirk on his face that Tommy hadn’t ever seen before. It caused a shiver to run up his back and he glanced towards the door, frowning when he saw it was locked now.

 

**Adam’s POV**

“How’s Tommy?” Adam asked as soon as Marcus stepped into the house.

“He’s worried about you, but other than that, he’s fine.”

Adam nodded. He didn’t know what else he’d expected but he was glad that Tommy was okay.

“Listen, Adam, I talked to him on our way there,” Marcus said, and Adam looked up at him with puzzled eyes.

“And?”

“I can see that he loves you. There’s no mistaking that. I’m sorry I had my doubts.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not much good now, is it?” Adam said bitterly.

“Hey,” Marcus put his hands on Adam’s shoulders, “when this is over, things will go back to how they were. Tommy can come back here and you two can be happy without this weight on your shoulders.”

“I hope so,” Adam murmured before looking up at Marcus, “Thank you. I _am_ happy that you believe us now.”

“I think I’ve gotta learn to stop being so paranoid. I should remember that not everyone is gonna be out to get us.”

“Yeah, maybe you should,” Adam said with a small smile.

“Anyway, enough of that. Have you had any blood today?” 

Adam shook his head and Marcus sighed. “How do you expect to be able to fight properly when you haven’t even had any blood? You need to keep your strength up.”

Adam rolled his eyes but headed to the kitchen, coming out a minute later sipping from a warm blood pack. “How are we going to start this?” he asked as he drank.

“I thought we could start with a practise fight.”

“Damn, we haven’t done that in a while.”

“I know, but this time I don’t want us to go too easy on each other. Obviously, we need to make sure we don’t cause each other serious harm, but I _do_ want us to get a little rough.”

“You know I don’t like doing that,” Adam complained.

“But we need to. It will get your adrenaline running for the fight and you’ll get to see what kind of mistakes you repeatedly make. Then we can go back and sort them out.”

“Yeah, I know. Still don’t like it, though.”

“I didn’t ask if you liked it,” Marcus said with a shrug. Adam finished off his blood pack and went back into the living room, standing opposite Marcus.

Marcus silently counted up on his fingers, both of them rushing towards each other when he got to three. They collided into each other in the middle of the room, falling on the floor with loud thuds. Adam was still scrambling to get up when Marcus sprang to his feet and went to Adam’s side. He reached out a hand and lifted him up.

“You need to be quicker at getting up. If you get knocked down when Drogen’s there it’s safe to say he wouldn’t be helping you up.”

They went through it again, Marcus giving Adam tips on how to get up quicker. When they’d sorted that out, they started the practise fight again. Marcus stopped Adam when he did something wrong and corrected him. They went over and over it until Marcus told him he was certain Adam had the best chance of winning.

He clapped him on the shoulder as they finished up. “Just remember everything I told you and you’ll do well. I know you will.”

“Thanks,” Adam said, then paused, “If anything _does_ happen...you know I love you, right?”

Marcus’ smile pulled down and Adam found himself being gripped in a hug. “Don’t say that. You saw how well you did just now. Nothing will happen.”

“I know. But I had to tell you, you know, just in case,” Adam said. He didn’t want to think of him not winning the fight, but he had to be sure that he’d said everything he wanted to say. He didn’t want it to be too late.

Marcus sniffed a little. “Drogen has no chance.”

Adam wanted to believe that. But he couldn’t help the little doubt in his head that told him he could easily be the one who doesn’t walk away. It was a life or death situation, after all. He’d been confident about it earlier, but it was bound to get to him sooner or later. And he was glad it was happening sooner. He didn’t want that doubt in his mind when he was standing there in front of Drogen.

“Should we go and get the stake now?” Adam asked.

“Yeah, it’s in my car,” Marcus said.

Adam watched as he walked off to get it, hoping he’d get that confidence back soon.

 

**Tommy’s POV**

Drogen walked slowly towards him, his smirk growing wider. “You see, Tommy, you may not have known it, but you were always a part of my army.”

Tommy’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it. Adam was right. All this time, Drogen had been lying to him. He thought back to all of those times he had tested to see if he had any ability and the strange looks he had received every time he told him nothing had happened. He recognised it now as disappointment. He felt what could only be described as betrayal. His maker, who was meant to care for him, only wanted him to form an army. He wasn’t worth anything else to him.

“How...why?” Tommy stuttered.

“Well, I was hardly going to be able to get all the powers I wanted on my own, was I? You were going to find out eventually, of course, after I’d trained you up. I knew most of you would be easy to persuade to fight for me. No one would want to go against me when I had a full army of powerful vampires willing to fight,” Drogen drawled, his hair shining in the light.

“You were just using us?” Tommy asked, his voice trembling. He didn’t understand why Drogen was telling him this. Surely he’d wanted to keep this a secret until the very last minute. But Tommy had a feeling that Drogen had a different plan for him, and he wasn’t eager to find out what it was.

“You could say that. The reason I didn’t ask for you back was naturally because of your lack of ability. It wasn’t too hard to cope without you in my army. But then I found out that you had found your power,” Drogen said, stepping even closer to Tommy, making him back away, “and apparently it’s a very powerful ability.”

Tommy continued backing away whilst Drogen kept coming closer. He realised they were almost circling each other. “Why are you telling me this?”

Drogen tutted. “I was getting to that part. Now, this shield I have up now is the most powerful thing I’ve ever got my hands on. But...what’s his name?”

“Adam?” Tommy croaked.

“Yes, that’s it, Adam. Adam wants me to put down the shield in order to fight with him. I was thinking to myself recently that I need another powerful ability that can overcome him without breaking the rules he set. And, well, I’m sure you can guess the solution I came up with,” Drogen said, his eyes gleaming menacingly.

Tommy understood all too clearly what Drogen meant, and his breaths automatically quickened. It was all too much for him. There was too much to take in. Drogen had lied to him all of his time here and now he wanted him dead. Just to get hold of his power. Just like Kris. He clutched the edge of Drogen’s desk, his balance going unsteady. The room span and he squeezed his eyes shut to try to block out the dizziness that had overcome him.

“So, I was thinking this power of yours would do well against Adam, would give me an advantage that I don’t have yet. I _am_ sorry it has to come to this, Tommy, but you do see why I have to do this, don’t you?”

Tommy cringed as the sound of Drogen’s voice got louder. He opened his eyes again, thankful that the room had stopped spinning. “You don’t have to do this.”

Drogen laughed, and it made Tommy’s skin crawl. “Oh, but I do. I wouldn’t have a chance of winning without it.”

Tommy pressed back into the desk, knuckles turning white from where they were now clenched by his sides. He couldn’t see a way of out this. As he watched Drogen look at him smugly, he knew he was thinking the same thing.

 

**Adam’s POV**

Adam turned the stake over in his hands. It was light, and it was amazing how anything this small could be so dangerous.

“Of course, you can either use this to kill him or use your own strength. But I would suggest using this. It will be much quicker,” Marcus advised.

Adam nodded, running his hands over the smooth wood. He looked up at Marcus, who was studying the stake, too. “Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

“Give them chance. Don’t worry. They wouldn’t risk you being late.”

Adam let out a deep breath. His nerves had calmed down now, just as he hoped they would. But he still couldn’t help being impatient. He just wanted to get it over with already. He jumped up when he saw the car pulling up outside the house, walking with Marcus to the front door and outside before the car had even stopped.

He flung the passenger door open, hopping in and turning around to see Sharlene and Anna in the back seat, Marcus climbing in beside them and Morissey at the wheel.

“Ready?” Morissey asked, waiting for Adam’s nod before driving off.

Sharlene reached out and put a hand on Adam’s, squeezing it gently. “You’re going to kick ass.”

Adam smiled. “Thanks.”

He looked out the window as Morissey drove, not really seeing anything. He could just see Tommy’s face in his mind, and he couldn’t wait to see him again. There was no if about it. He was determined to win this fight.

“Did you do well in your training this morning?” he heard Anna ask, and he appreciated Marcus answering for him. His mind was too busy for him to follow a proper conversation.

He was startled when the car finally stood still, but happy that there was no more waiting. He’d had enough of that and he couldn’t wait a second longer. This needed to be done. It was a long time coming.

He put a hand on the door handle, ready to open it and walk up to the gates when a hand on his arm stopped him. He looked back to see that it was Marcus’ hand.

“I have complete faith in you.”

Sharlene gave him a smile that was not nearly as bright as the ones she usually gave. “You can do this, Adam.”

“Be careful. We’ll have your car waiting here for when you’re done,” Anna said, her face even more serious than it normally was.

“Just pretend it’s me,” Morissey chimed in.

Adam laughed. “I don’t hate you nearly as much as I hate Drogen.”

They all smiled at him encouragingly as he got out, watching them drive off before he turned to look at the building for a minute. He couldn’t believe that this was it. It was time.

 

**Tommy’s POV**

“I heard you became quite close to this Adam guy. Is that true?” Drogen asked silkily.

Tommy didn’t answer. He didn’t want Drogen to be able to use that against Adam. But it seemed like his silence was answer enough for him.

“I wonder how he’ll feel, knowing another person he loves has been killed at my hands. It’s unlucky really. Maybe he’d be better off not getting close to anyone else, since everyone he gets close to seems to get hurt.”

Tommy felt the fear slowly drain away, leaving only anger in its wake. He sensed the shift in atmosphere, taking in the way Drogen bent his legs slightly as if to attack. He quickly stepped to the side when Drogen launched himself at him, stumbling against the wall as he watched Drogen get up off the floor. He didn’t know what to do. He had to fight back, but it didn’t feel right. His feet felt like they were glued to the floor.

He didn’t see the hand that came his way, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor. He winced as he touched his forehead, feeling a bruise already coming up. He scooted further away from Drogen, getting up and knowing that this time he had to do something.

He heard Drogen hiss and watched as snakes instantly came slithering across the floor. Tommy knew that a lot of his powers were weak and he was hoping that these were only illusions meant to scare him. He stamped on one, satisfied when they morphed back into air. He got himself into position, jumping behind Drogen and hitting him hard over the back of the head when he wasn’t looking. He held out his hand to use his power when he saw him fall, but all too quickly Drogen kicked a leg out at him and he stumbled.

This gave Drogen enough time to get up and ram into Tommy, sending him crashing into the bookshelf in the corner of the room. Books piled on top of him one after one, making him groan in pain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Drogen spit spikes out at him, yet another one of his powers, but he hadn’t aimed properly and they scattered on the floor uselessly.

Tommy took this time to crawl towards him, too weak to stand up again but determined not to give in. He pulled at his arm sharply, making Drogen cry out and drop to the floor next to him. Tommy scrambled to get on top of him, trying to hold out his hand and let the fire out. Before he could, though, Drogen hit out at him, catching him in the nose and causing him to reel back and clutch at it in agony. He guessed that Drogen had used the shock power on him, knowing that a punch to the nose couldn’t hurt that much. He wondered briefly how many people he had killed for him to have this many powers.

He heard footsteps move towards him, then felt a heavy boot kick him in the side. He turned over, staring up at Drogen with wide eyes. As he kicked him again and he cried out in pain, he knew this was his last chance. His vision was going fuzzy and he heard a loud ringing in his ears, but he still lifted his arm out weakly, pushing with all his strength to get the fire out.

Before he could see if it had worked, his vision blacked out and his arm dropped back down to his side. He wondered if this was the end as Adam’s face came into his mind. He’d rather it be the real thing, but if this was the last image he’d see before he died, then he wasn’t going to complain. He wished then that he could have one more moment with Adam to tell him how much he loved him, how much he had wanted more time with him. It was taken away too soon, but he would never forget how Adam had made him feel.  Flashes of his time with Adam appeared before his eyes, making his heart twist with pain, until finally there was nothing else but darkness left.

 

 


	21. Chapter 21

                                                                          

 

Adam nodded to the guard at the front gates, who gave him an odd look in return, almost as if he knew something that Adam didn’t. He shrugged it off as the gates swung open for him and he walked ahead.

“Drogen is in his office,” the guard called after him, and Adam waved a hand to show that he’d heard. He wondered why Drogen was in his office as he went down the polished corridors. He didn’t think it was big enough for them to fight in, but maybe that was Drogen’s plan. Maybe he didn’t want Adam to have enough space so he’d find it harder to dodge Drogen’s attacks. Thinking about that made him slightly nervous. Although Drogen hadn’t been trained with his powers, they could still do harm to him if they hit him.

Rounding various corners on his way to Drogen’s office, he thought about how he would start this. It would be best to start immediately, he figured. If he left Drogen with enough time to get the upper hand early on, it would be that much more difficult to get control back.

He tried to ignore the guards who stared at him with smug smiles. He guessed they were confident Drogen would win. He couldn’t wait to come back out alive and wipe it off their faces. At least he didn’t have to worry about them trying to attack him once it was over with. They were only powerful because of the position Drogen had given to them. Without that, they didn’t have any authority over him.

He stopped when he got to the office, squaring his shoulders and lifting his head up high. He didn’t want to show any sign of weakness. That would only make Drogen believe he had a good chance of winning. And Adam didn’t want him to think that. He wanted him to be filled with dread throughout the fight, knowing that Adam wasn’t going to stop until he was dead. He wanted to hear him beg for his life, only for it to be useless because Adam could never pity him. He’d done too many terrible things for him to be pitied.

Slowly, he put his hand on the door and gave it a light push, expecting it to open immediately. Instead, it stayed closed. Adam pushed again harder in case the door was just stiff, but it still didn’t open. He closed his hand around the door knob and twisted it, frowning when still nothing happened. It looked like the door was locked. But Drogen had no reason to lock the door, unless he was hiding away from the fight. That couldn’t be right, though, because he wouldn’t have given his word if he wasn’t ready.

Sighing, he pressed his ear against the door, listening for any sign that there was someone in there. He briefly wondered if the guards had tricked him and Drogen wasn’t really waiting for him in the office. He turned around quickly, looking for anything that looked suspicious. He almost expected to see Drogen come running at him from behind, but he was glad that he was wrong.

Biting his lip, he listened for any sound inside the room again. He heard nothing. Confused, he stepped out of the corridor and into the one before that, turning his head to see if there were any guards around to answer his questions. Finding nobody around, he walked back to the office door, rattling the door knob again. He banged his fist against the door when there was no response. This was ridiculous. He just wanted to get in there and do what needed to be done. It was wasting time just standing here waiting for someone to come by who could tell him what was happening.

He stood there for a few moments, trying to decide what to do. Then, he gave the door a long look. It didn’t look very strong. He gauged how much space he had behind him, seeing that he had enough. He bent down and checked the hinges, trying to figure out if it swung towards or away from him. He smiled tightly when it looked like it swung away from him, which would make breaking it down that much easier.

With a seconds hesitation, he drove the heel of his foot into the door. When there was no change, he did it again, closer to where the lock would be this time. He steadied the foot he was standing on on the ground so that he didn’t get pushed backwards. He kicked the door again and again, watching as it splintered and finally broke down.

He stepped over the fallen wood and into the room, at first only finding the mess the room was in. When he moved closer inside, however, he spotted two figures lying on the ground, motionless.

 He froze when he saw the blonde hair. It couldn’t be Tommy. There was no way that could be Tommy. He held his breath as he slowly walked towards the figure, a sob breaking from his chest when he saw Tommy’s face. Dropping to his knees beside him, he prayed that he was going mad and this was a hallucination.

He reached out a shaking hand and brushed a finger along Tommy’s cheekbone, gasping at how cold he was. He was never this cold. Carefully, he pulled Tommy’s head into his lap, stroking his hands over his hair as he whimpered pitifully. He willed Tommy’s eyes to open, for him to smile and tell him everything was okay. But everything wasn’t okay, and Tommy didn’t open his eyes and smile.

“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Adam choked out, bent over Tommy and wishing that this would just go away. His heart felt like it was being ripped apart and his eyes were burning with tears that weren’t even there.

“You can’t be dead. I’ve just found you. You can’t be.”

Adam’s body shook in anguish, his whole being centred on Tommy’s limp body. He leaned in closer to Tommy’s face, kissing his head and brokenly whispering how much he loved him. Just as he was about to pull back, he noticed the quiet sound of breathing. He gripped Tommy’s shoulders tightly at the realisation before seeing what he was doing and releasing his grip. Opening Tommy’s mouth, he put his ear there and listened carefully, feeling hope set in his heart.

It was there, the sound of Tommy breathing. He was sure of it. It sounded shallow and it was quiet, but it was there. He finally let out the breath he had been holding, feeling most of the fear and heartbreak leave him, too. His heart still ached at how close Tommy looked to death and his breath still hitched at how cold he was, but he was alive and that was all that mattered.

He let himself have a few moments, breathing heavily as he tried to get over the shock of thinking Tommy was dead. Sitting there silently, the other figure on the floor drew his attention. It was sprawled out much like Tommy had been when he’d found him, but he couldn’t see the chest moving. Moving Tommy’s head gently back down to the floor, he crawled over to the body, his eyes widening when he saw that it was Drogen. He looked from Drogen to Tommy. Judging from the angry red burn on his face, Adam guessed that Tommy had shot a fireball at him. And, Adam thought as he looked at his still chest, it looked like it had killed him, too.

He didn’t give much thought to the fact that Drogen was dead when he went back over to Tommy and lifted him into his arms. Tommy was so much more important that he didn’t want to focus his mind on anything else other than getting home so he could get Tommy help. He hurried out of the room, cradling Tommy’s head so that it didn’t drop back.

He didn’t know whether it was a good idea to run or not. On one hand, it would get them out of here faster, but on the other, he didn’t want to jostle Tommy and hurt him. He decided that he didn’t know how much time they had before Tommy got worse, but he knew that Tommy wasn’t in a good condition and he’d rather be safe than sorry. So, he ran down the corridors, holding Tommy’s body tightly against his own.

He snarled when some of the guards went over as if they were going to stop him. They scattered back, deducing that something had happened to Drogen and running to his office as one. It seemed to take longer to get out of the building than it had before, but eventually he stopped at the front gates.

“Open the gates,” Adam growled at the head guard, who frowned back at him.

“I’m going to have to wait for Drogen to confirm that.”

“Well, you’re gonna have a pretty hard time doing that since he’s dead. Now, let me out.”

The guard gaped at him, pushing the button to open the gates before rushing inside. Adam cursed when the gates took a while to open, slipping in between them when they weren’t fully open. He scanned the area around him, spotting his car waiting for him just around the corner. He strode quickly towards it, opening the back car door in a hurry and then slowing down to make sure he got Tommy in safely. He laid him out on the back seat, stroking over his head to check his temperature. He was still cold, causing Adam to move quicker when he sat himself in the front seat and started the car.

As he drove, he found himself continuously glancing behind him in worry. He couldn’t stop himself from imagining that Tommy was going to stop breathing any second.

After a torturous drive, he carried Tommy back out of the car and placed him on the couch in the living room. Running a hand through his hair, he picked up the phone and dialled Anna’s number. He hardly gave her chance to speak when she picked up.

“Can you come here? Now? And bring the others, too.”

“Adam? I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon. It went okay?”

“Just get here,” Adam snapped, hanging up and punching in the next number. As he waited desperately for Carrie or Rob to pick up, he felt a tiny bit of guilt for snapping. But Anna was asking questions and he just really wanted them to be here so he could talk to them in person. He heard the phone pick up and interrupted Rob’s ‘hello ‘.

“Tommy’s unconscious.”

There was a pause on the other end. “What? What happened?”

“I need you to come here and I’ll tell you all together. But I need to know if there’s a spell that can help first.”

“Erm, he’s unconscious?” Rob asked.

“Yeah.”

“There are spells that can bring people back to consciousness. But we can’t do anything if we don’t know why he’s in that state.”

Adam went to Tommy’s side, checking for any sign that he’d had a knock to the head. He didn’t feel any swelling or anything, and he told Rob that.

“Do you think it could be exhaustion?”

Adam thought about it. It looked like Tommy had been using his power against Drogen. If he’d threw out a lot of it at once, it was most likely going to drain him.

“Yeah, I think it could be.”

“Okay, we’ll get what we need ready and come straight over. Are _you_ okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Adam said. It was only partly a lie. He was fine physically, but inside he was all over the place.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay,” Rob told him, and Adam wondered if he’s sensed how so not okay he was feeling.

“Thanks. Bye.”

Adam put the phone down, looking down at Tommy and brushing some of the hair off his face. He went to get a blanket when he remembered how cold Tommy was, hoping it would warm him back up a little. He dragged a chair to the side of the couch, sitting on it and resting his head on the armrest near Tommy’s head. He breathed in time with him, just so that he’d know instantly if something went wrong and it stopped.

He glanced up at the clock, out the window, then back at Tommy again. He jigged his leg up and down while he waited for his friends to arrive. They were taking too damn long and he didn’t know how long it would be before it could be too late.

 

 


	22. Chapter 22

                                                                         

 

Adam jumped up when he saw that Carrie and Rob had arrived, opening the door for them and leading them into the living room. They took one look at Tommy and immediately brought out the bowl and various ingredients they had in their bags. Adam watched off to the side while they mixed the ingredients into the bowl, whispering and humming a spell over it as they worked.

“Do you have a glass?” Carrie asked without looking up, and Adam went and fetched her one. She took it from him silently, tipping the mixture into the cup and swirling it around.

Adam hadn’t noticed the others arriving until he felt someone standing behind him. He looked over at them, registering their expressions. Sharlene had a hand to her mouth as she watched Carrie and Rob tilt Tommy’s head up so they could lift the glass to his lips. Marcus, Anna and Morissey all looked shocked, clearly not expecting to see this when Adam had told them to come over.

Adam jolted at the sound of Tommy choking over the drink that was being tipped into his mouth. He shot to his side, not caring that he was getting in Carrie’s way. His eyes were still closed, and Adam didn’t know whether this meant he was awake and whatever had been given to him had worked or if it was just an automatic reaction. He sat him up a little, patting his back to try and stop him from choking. He felt a hand pull his arm back to stop him.

“It’s no use. We’re just going to have to give him some more anyway. It won’t hurt him,” Rob said.

“Are you sure?”

Carrie nodded with a reassuring smile, batting him out of the way so that she could give Tommy more of the drink. He fought the urge to run back to Tommy when he heard him choking again and closed his eyes so that he didn’t have to see. When he heard his name being murmured after minutes of trying to block out not only the image but the sound of Tommy choking, too, he opened them, confused. Anna pointed to Tommy and he turned back around to find his eyes fluttering open.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him and this time Carrie and Rob let him get in their way so he could bend down next to him.

“Tommy? Wake up, baby,” he said softly, watching as Tommy’s eyes slipped closed before he blinked them open once more. Adam smiled at him when he didn’t close them again. A line appeared between Tommy’s eyebrows, and Adam smoothed it out with his thumb.

“How are you feeling?”

“Umm, extremely confused?” Tommy said uncertainly, looking around the room at all of the people there.

“You lost consciousness. I found you and got you back here. Carrie and Rob just gave you some kind of drink to help you wake up,” Adam explained, taking one of Tommy’s hands in his.

“Speaking of which, you still need to drink the rest of that. It will make you feel a hell of a lot better,” Rob said, passing the drink over to Tommy. Adam grinned when he wrinkled his nose at it, reminding him of when he’d first drank a blood pack and had shown the same reaction.

“What are you grinning at?” Tommy asked, swallowing the drink and making a face.

“Nothing. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Tommy drank the rest of the mixture silently, and Adam guessed that he was remembering what had happened before he’d passed out. He decided to give him some time to think it over and moved his eyes over to the others.

“Are you going to finally explain what on earth happened?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know the whole story, but when I walked in I was told that Drogen was in his office. I went there and found the door locked, and there wasn’t anyone else around, so I broke it down. I found Tommy and Drogen lying on the floor and I got Tommy out when I realised that he was still breathing. Drogen wasn’t, though.”

Adam heard Tommy join the collective intake of breath from his friends. He looked at him, telling by his face that he hadn’t known Drogen had died. Sharlene came over before he could say anything, sitting by Tommy’s feet and giving him a sweet smile.

“Tommy, honey, I know it might seem like it’s only just happened and you might not wanna talk about it, but we need to know what happened in that room.”

Tommy opened his mouth and closed it again. He took a shaky breath and Adam squeezed the hand that was in his.

“Tommy, just take your time. Start from when you saw Drogen again,” Anna said encouragingly.

Tommy nodded and started talking. “He was being nice at first. Too nice for how he usually is, actually. Or...was.”

He stopped, swallowing hard and biting his lip.

“Try not to think about that right now. Just tell us the best you can,” Morissey suggested.

“Yeah. Well, I asked him why it took so long until he asked for me back. He ended up telling me these things,” Tommy met Adam’s eyes, “it was everything you’d told me about him. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. You were right all along.”

Adam shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. Carry on.”

“He’d found out about my power, and because he wouldn’t be able to use the shield when he fought you, he decided he’d kill me and then kill you with my power.”

Adam smelt the anger in the room, and he knew that it was because Drogen had tried to kill his own son. But Adam felt a different kind of anger. Drogen had tried to kill another person he loved. He could have lost Tommy to him just as he had lost Kris to him. Remembering that Drogen was finally dead, he let himself smile before Tommy continued.

“A fight started. At first I didn’t want to attack him, but I knew that I had to in the end. I was already feeling weak before we started fighting, but it just got worse and I can remember thinking that this was my last chance. So, I pushed out all of the fire I could and then I saw...I saw your face,” Tommy gazed at Adam, reaching a hand out to touch his arm, “and moments of our time together. It all went black after that.”

Adam ducked down to give Tommy a kiss, a happy feeling in his chest when Tommy responded by pulling him closer. He moved his lips against Tommy’s eagerly, knowing that he could have very nearly lost him. He heard a little cough some distance away and they broke apart. He looked down sheepishly when he saw the others pointedly looking away. All except Morissey, that is, who had a huge smirk on his face as he watched them.

“Do you feel okay, Tommy?” Carrie asked, taking the now empty glass from him and setting it down.

“Yeah, I do. I felt kinda awful when I woke up but that drink helped.”

 “I’m glad to hear it. You had us all worried here.”

“Sorry.”

Rob rolled his eyes. “We weren’t asking for an apology. We just wanted you to know. We all care about you.”

Tommy smiled as Adam hugged him close and kissed the top of his head.

“We think you passed out from the exhaustion of using too much of your power. Plus, shock at hearing what Drogen told you possibly made it worse,” Carrie said.

Tommy’s smile faded at the mention of Drogen.

“Your ability must be strong to have gotten through that shield,” Marcus mused.

Tommy looked down into his lap. “I hadn’t really thought about it being up at the time.”

“Of course not. Well, we should probably leave. You’ve both had a long day.”

He stood back whilst they all said goodbye to Tommy and thanked him before leaving. They didn’t say what for, but Adam knew it was because he had killed Drogen. They hadn’t really cared who done it as long as it was done, and Adam found that the anticipation for killing Drogen himself had long disappeared.

When everyone had left, he lightly touched the bruises that had formed on Tommy’s cheek and forehead. “How did you get these?” he asked, not remembering Tommy having any blood before he left the house. He didn’t understand how he could have gotten the bruises if there was no blood inside him to rise up.

“Marcus had given me some blood in the car,” Tommy explained.

Adam silently walked into the kitchen, opening the freezer and getting out some ice, wrapping it in a cloth. He went back to Tommy and pressed the ice against the bruises.

“You’re still cold, aren’t you?”

Tommy nodded, and Adam made sure that he was holding the cloth to his face on his own before he went and heated up a blood pack. Handing it to Tommy when he was done, he watched as Tommy drank it down, hoping it would raise his temperature and make him feel a little stronger.

Adam sat down next to him, fitting their bodies together and smiling at Tommy’s familiar warmth coming back. He brushed a hand over his cheek, leaning down and slowly kissing the bruises.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I don’t really know. I mean, even though Drogen showed that he was really who you’d said he was, I still can’t believe I’ve killed him. I wish I could have done something differently.”

“You couldn’t have done anything differently. I can’t imagine how you feel right now, but you have to remember that you killed him in self defence. You’re not to blame,” Adam said.

Tommy shook his head at Adam. “I’m a killer.”

Adam wrapped his arms around Tommy and held him, speaking into his ear. “Don’t say that. You’re not a killer, you were a victim. _He_ was the killer. He brainwashed you into thinking he was a saint, but he’s killed so many people in his time and he never showed any remorse.”

“I just can’t help this...guilt.”

“Tommy, you saved possible lives today. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

Tommy stayed silent for a moment before tucking his head under Adam’s chin. “Just before he attacked, he told me about how he wanted to hurt you with killing me.”

Adam closed his eyes against the thought of Tommy getting hurt and breathed in his scent to remind himself that he was here and alive. “I don’t know what I would have done with myself if I’d lost you. I was so damn scared when I saw you lying on the floor. I love you.”

“I love you, too. You know, I thought I was gonna die when I saw your face before I passed out. I was wishing for more time with you. And now I have it,” Tommy curled in closer to Adam and they sat there holding each other before Tommy mumbled that he was tired. Adam carried him to bed and tucked him in.

“Thank you,” Tommy said sleepily as Adam got in next to him. Adam watched him with a smile long after Tommy had fallen to sleep, not being able to imagine life without him. Nearly losing him had been a huge wakeup call, and he lay awake thinking about how much he wanted to spend forever with Tommy.

 

 


	23. Chapter 23

                                                                        

 

Anna called to confirm that Drogen was dead later that night, and Adam hadn’t even thought of him not staking him or something to make sure he was gone. He was too preoccupied with how Tommy was doing to worry about anything like that. He knew that if Drogen had survived he wouldn’t have stopped until he got to them both, and a rush of relief ran through him knowing that he wouldn’t ever be able to do that now.

Over the next few days, Tommy didn’t say much unless he was prompted to speak. He spent most of his time playing his guitar, and Adam had decided that he needed his space. No matter how much it hurt not to be close to Tommy.

It gave Adam time to think, too. He thought about how heart wrenching it was to see Tommy lying still on the floor and how incredibly relieved he was when he woke up. He thought about how his heart just about burst with joy every time Tommy said he loved him and how Adam loved every little thing about him.

Numerous times he let himself think back to when he had first seen Tommy in the backseat of Morissey’s car. He’d barely paid any attention to him that night, and it amazed him how far they had come since then. He would have never imagined what Tommy could be to him back then and he found himself being eternally grateful that it was Tommy who Sharlene and the other hypnotists had taken. He believed that they would have met somehow, though, even if he had ended up living with a completely different person. Fate would have brought them together in the end, he was sure of it. It had always felt natural with Tommy, like it was meant to be, even when he’d been suppressing the feelings he had been getting for him.

The overwhelming amount of love he felt made him want to _do_ something, but he wasn’t sure what. He could have done a big romantic gesture, however, that didn’t seem enough. It wasn’t like he wanted to prove his love for him; Tommy knew that he loved him. But he wanted something to mark their love for each other, something that would feel right with the love they had.

When he realised what the ultimate thing to tie them together was, he pondered it for a short while. He didn’t really need that long to decide he was going to do it. As soon as he’d tested the word out on his lips he’d known it was what he wanted. And he wanted to do it soon. He couldn’t let any of his time with Tommy go to waste. It was too precious for that.

The day after he’d decided, he’d went over to Tommy to tell him he was going out. He knew that Tommy wouldn’t want to go with him, not with the phase he was going through at the moment, and for once he was glad for that. This way it could be a total surprise.

“Hey.”

Tommy looked up, his eyes blank as he strummed out a slow melody. Adam hoped that the life came back to them soon, but he reminded himself that Tommy needed to deal with what had happened. It wasn’t an easy thing to come to terms with and he tried to understand that.

“I’m gonna go to the shops in a minute. Want anything?”

“No, I’m okay,” Tommy said, dropping his eyes back down to the guitar in his lap. Adam sighed, wanting to talk to Tommy more about it, but he didn’t know whether that was the best thing for him. So, he gave Tommy’s leg a gentle squeeze before walking to the door.

“I won’t be long,” he told him, and he watched sadly as Tommy gave him a tiny nod without looking up. He almost didn’t want to leave him in the house on his own, but Tommy hadn’t been talking a lot anyway. There wasn’t going to be much difference if he stopped in or went out, and he was kind of really excited to get the things he needed for what he had planned.

 

Adam moved a critical eye over the rings on display, only wanting the best for Tommy. Okay, he really wanted a cool ring for himself, too, but he wanted to get Tommy’s first and then see what there was for himself.

He could feel the eyes of the store owner on him and he wondered whether she wanted to come over and help him or not. It turned out that she did when he heard her coming over to him.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Adam looked at her, pursing his lips. He guessed he could let her point him in the right direction, at least. He’d just have to lie that he was getting married, that’s all.

“I’m looking for wedding rings?” he asked uncertainly.

She gave him a friendly smile. “The good news is that you’re in the right section. Now, what kind of style do you think your wife-to-be would like?”

“Husband-to-be, actually,” Adam corrected her.

She blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s fine. I was going to get both of our rings while I’m here.”

“Okay. So, back to my previous question?”

“Something...quirky? But stylish.”

“I think I know just the section that you’re looking for. Follow me.”

She led him to the back of the store and stopped in front of another display of rings. “Anything you like here?”

Adam peered closer at the rings, spotting some cool looking ones that had stuff like feathers coming off of them, but he thought they might be annoying to wear every day. He leaned in to look at some of the not so over the top rings,finding one that had mountains carved into it and a red tint to it when the light shone off it. He picked it up and looked at it, remembering Tommy’s favourite colour. It was sort of beautiful. It matched Tommy perfectly.

“I like this one.”

“That’s a good one. Do you know your partner’s ring size?”

He didn’t, but he took a guess at what it was and hoped he’d got it right. If it wasn’t, he could always go back and get it done again anyway.

“Do you have another one like this, but with a purple sheen to it instead?” he asked.

“I don’t know about that. Give me a minute and I’ll look for you,” she said, bustling off to the front while Adam admired the ring in his hand. A few minutes later, the woman came back to him.

“You’re in luck,” she said with a smile.

“Great.”

When he told her his ring size, she informed him that she had his size but not Tommy’s, and made him write his number down so she could call him to pick it up when it was ready. He’d decided to give her the money when he came back for Tommy’s ring since he hadn’t really come prepared.

After thanking her and wishing her a good day, Adam came out of the store with a huge grin on his face. He was going to get bonded to one of the most amazing people he’d ever met. He had good reason to be happy.

 

When he came back home and came face to face with Tommy, however, his happiness dimmed a little.

“Hey. I wasn’t too long, was I?”

“No,” Tommy replied, his voice sounding hollow. He walked straight past Adam and up the stairs, his face almost as empty of emotion as his voice.

Adam sighed. He wanted to do something, to help Tommy somehow. It just didn’t look like he wanted to speak about it anymore with Adam. There was only one person he knew who he could talk to about all of his problems and who’d always make him feel better about them, and that was Marcus. Adam wondered whether Tommy needed a fatherly figure like him to talk to instead of his boyfriend. After all, he was older and wiser and Adam thought that Tommy might rather someone who wasn’t as close to him to let out his feelings with. He picked up his phone and decided to call Marcus to see whether he could help with Tommy’s situation.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Marcus. How are you doing?”

“Good. How are you and Tommy doing after everything that’s happened?” Marcus asked.

“Well, that’s kinda why I was calling. You see, he hasn’t been himself lately. He won’t talk to me properly and the only time he did tell me how he felt about Drogen’s death was that night.”

“What did he say?”

“He feels guilty. I’ve told him that it was self defence and wasn’t his fault, but I don’t think he believes me,” Adam said.

“Listen, do you want me to come down and try to talk with him?”

“You wouldn’t mind? I just...it’s killing me to see him like this,” Adam admitted in a whisper in case Tommy overheard.

“Of course I don’t mind. I’ll be by in a bit.”

Adam relaxed as he hung up, hoping that this would do Tommy some good. Maybe once he’d talked to Marcus, he could see that he didn’t have to lock his feelings up in front of Adam, either. He felt for the box in his pocket, smiling when he found it. He’d have to put it somewhere safe where Tommy wouldn’t find it. Although, he still didn’t know when he’d be able to ask Tommy to be his bonded. Now just wasn’t the right time, and he had no idea when it would be.

 

When Marcus arrived, Adam called Tommy, who looked confused when he came downstairs. Adam was just glad to see any sort of emotion on his face.

“Marcus is here to see you.”

Tommy looked even more confused. “Why?”

“He’ll explain it to you when you go in,” Adam said, jerking his head towards the living room where Marcus was waiting.

 Tommy paused and then reluctantly walked into the room. Adam watched him go and Marcus shut the door behind him before Adam went into the kitchen to microwave a blood pack for himself. While he waited for it to heat up, he considered where he was going to put the box with the ring in it. He tried to think of somewhere Tommy never went, but that was pretty much impossible.

Then, as he gazed at the cupboards above him, he remembered that Tommy had no reason to go looking in them. They were empty and were only there for when he brought food for his human friends and there was some left over. He smiled, reaching up and opening one of the cupboard doors. He tucked the box up on the highest one in the corner, nodding to himself in satisfaction when he found he could hardly see it from where he was standing. And Tommy was smaller than him, so he definitely wouldn’t be able to see it even if he did open the cupboard doors.

When his blood pack was ready, he grabbed it up and stuck a straw in it. He sucked up a little of it, humming at the delicious warmth it filled him with. Walking out of the kitchen and about to head to his room, he suddenly stopped outside of the living room door upon hearing his name.

“...was broken when he found out, Tommy. There’s no other way to put it. I had to watch him fall apart over every little thing that reminded him of Kris time and time again. To this day, he hasn’t once been to his grave. I think he’s been afraid of how much it would hurt.”

Adam hadn’t heard Marcus talk about his grieving over Kris like this. He’d always focused on Adam and making sure he was alright. Adam knew he had worried people for a while, but it didn’t hit him until now how much it had affected the people around him, too. He sat down on the floor beside the door as Marcus spoke again.

“Drogen caused so much suffering. Now, I don’t believe taking another life is right. But you didn’t have a choice. It was you or Drogen. Personally, I’m glad Adam didn’t kill him. Firstly, I was too worried about him getting hurt, and secondly, he’s not a killer.”

Adam stilled, knowing where Tommy’s train of thought would lead. Sure enough, he heard Tommy’s voice whisper out, full of the emotion he had hid from Adam.

“Aren’t I a killer?”

“No. It was self defence,” Marcus said calmly.

There was silence, and Adam took the time to think about how he’d have handled that. He was happy that Marcus was talking to Tommy, because he wouldn’t have been able to answer back so calmly after Tommy’s question. Not at all.

“Adam told me that. I...deep down I understand that I couldn’t do anything else but fight. There’s still this guilt that I can’t get rid of, though. I think I just need...”

“...to let it all out,” Marcus finished for him.

Adam heard some movement from inside the room, and then a quiet sound of someone crying. Tommy crying. He got to his feet, the urge to go in there and comfort him strong, but when he peered through a crack in the door, he saw Marcus there, holding him and rocking him as Tommy let it all out. Adam hesitated, torn between going in there or leaving Tommy with Marcus.

He turned for the stairs, deciding that it was good for Tommy to have Marcus comfort him. He would know now that Adam wasn’t just lying to make him feel better when he said it wasn’t his fault. As he went up the stairs, he felt a hope in him that maybe the right time to ask Tommy to bond with him would be soon.

 

Adam had heard Marcus leave and listened to the footsteps that were getting closer. He looked up when he saw Tommy standing by the door of their bedroom, his face tired but relatively happy.

“Hi,” Tommy said quietly, walking over to sit on the bed next to Adam.

“Hey,” Adam answered, holding out a hand, happy when Tommy held it. He thanked Marcus again in his head.

“I’m sorry. For shutting you out these past few days. I shouldn’t have. It was just a lot to take it.”

Adam shook his head. “You don’t need to apologise. I understand.”

Adam opened his arms, smiling when Tommy fell into them. He felt Tommy clutch at his shirt and he kissed his head in response. He’d missed this closeness they shared with each other. It felt good to just hold each other.

“There’s another thing that I’ve been feeling guilty about,” Tommy mumbled into Adam’s chest.

“What is it?”

“I killed Drogen. You know what that means, right?”

Adam thought about it, and then it struck him. It hadn’t crossed his mind before. Tommy would have all of those powers Drogen had had.

“I tried out all of the powers when I was up here alone. None of them are strong enough. It’s like they’re not really there because of how much he neglected them.”

That made sense. It wasn’t unheard of for powers to weaken until they were no longer able to be used when someone didn’t use them enough. He was actually pretty relieved that Tommy wouldn’t be able to use them. He wasn’t sure that Tommy would be able to handle trying to control that many powers at once.

“Why do you feel guilty about it?”

“The shield...it was the only one still working properly. But it isn’t rightfully mine. It was Kris’.”

“You shouldn’t feel guilty about having it. You know what? It couldn’t have gone to a more worthy person,” Adam reassured him.

“You really think that?”

“I’m certain. It looks like the other powers will just go away soon because they’re not strong enough to be useful. But I can teach you how to use the shield if you want, like I did last time.”

Tommy smiled up at Adam. “I’d like that.”

Adam bit his lip against the amount of happiness that filled him. He could trust that Tommy was going to talk to him about anything he felt now, and there wasn’t a lot that felt better than being there for Tommy how he wanted to be.  

 

 


	24. Chapter 24

 

In a week, a lot can happen. This is what Adam learnt after a week of watching Tommy get over what had happened and put his energy into learning how to control his new shield ability. Tommy had told him that he still thought of it as Kris’ and, although Adam told him that it was his now, Tommy answered that it felt like Kris’ spirit was still there as long as the shield was with them. Adam recognised the happy tone in Tommy’s voice when he said that and, while he wasn’t sure if it was true, he liked the smile on Tommy’s face too much to question it.

 Adam was also happy to see Tommy not blaming himself anymore, and they’d talked a lot about what kind of a person Drogen was, which helped Tommy understand that what he did wasn’t the worst thing he could have done. It only got better when letters started arriving at the house from vampires who’d gotten word of Drogen’s death and had thanked Tommy. Adam loved the look in Tommy’s eyes whenever he found him in the middle of the living room, sorting through the new letters.

About a week after Marcus had talked to him, Adam came into the living room whilst Tommy was bending over one of the letters. He sat beside him, crossing his legs and picking some up at random. Scanning over the words on the page, he caught sight of the word hero and felt his chest fill with pride.

“They’re right. You have no idea what they’d have been put through if he was still here,” Adam said, watching as Tommy shook his head in disagreement.

Adam leaned over and kissed him on the lips, laughing when Tommy chased after them as he pulled back. He stroked a hand over Tommy’s leg, resting it on his thigh. “You’re a hero.”

Tommy didn’t disagree this time, just gave Adam an impish smile, which was more than enough to satisfy him.

Later that day, Adam got a call from the ring store telling him that Tommy’s ring was ready for him to pick up. He practically skipped out of the door when he got the news, telling Tommy that he was going shopping again. He thought he felt suspicious eyes on his back as he left, probably because he didn’t usually go shopping for clothes twice in two weeks.

After a long drive that really shouldn’t have been that long, he arrived at the store. Immediately, the woman who had helped him before went over to him.

“Here to pick up the ring?”

“Of course,” Adam said with a grin, waiting as she went behind the counter and started busying herself there. In no time at all, she was back with a miniature box in her hand. When she gave it to him, he opened the box slowly, putting a hand to his mouth when he saw it. It was gorgeous, and he couldn’t wait until he got it on Tommy’s finger. He twisted the box around in his hands to get a look at it from every angle as he gave her the money.

“I think you’ll be well suited for marriage. Good luck!” the woman said as she waved him off.

“Thanks.”

Adam got back into his car and drove off, thinking about when he should ask Tommy to be his bonded. Things seemed good now, but he wanted it to be the perfect moment. He figured he would know when that was, and decided he could wait a little longer just so he could make the moment as special as possible for them.

When he got back, he hid the box in the kitchen along with his own and went into the living room, seeing that Tommy was still sorting through the letters he had received. Adam knelt down next to him. They read some in silence for a few moments before Adam spoke up.

“Do you realise now how many people you’ve helped?”

Tommy brushed a stray strand of hair off his face. “I didn’t actually think of it before I started getting these.”

“You’ve helped so many people because of what you did, saved so many lives that could have been taken away under Drogen’s power. I’m so proud of you, not only because of that but because you stood up to your maker, and he had such a strong hold over you. Most people wouldn’t have been able to do that, even if their maker _was_ trying to kill them,” Adam said.

Tommy tipped his head back to meet Adam’s eyes. “I _do_ feel better now. It’s like I’ve broken that hold Drogen had over me and I feel...almost free. Does that sound weird?”

Adam shook his head, smiling softly at the warmth in Tommy’s eyes. He didn’t think he’d ever get over how perfect Tommy was. “It’s not weird. We’re both free now. We can be together without worrying about Drogen or anyone else.”

Tommy moved nearer to Adam, pushing aside the letters to give him more room. “I need you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“I’m right here. I’ll always be here, as long as you want me to be.”

Tommy curled an arm around Adam’s neck, pulling him closer until their lips were almost touching. “Always.”

Adam closed his eyes as he felt Tommy’s lips touch his, wrapping his arm around Tommy’s waist to get him closer. He felt the vibration of Tommy’s groan in his mouth as he fitted their bodies together, Tommy’s heat warming him up instantly.

“Bedroom,” Tommy whispered hoarsely when they broke apart, his eyes dark with lust. Adam nodded, almost ready to grab Tommy’s hand and drag him to the bed when he remembered something.

“We haven’t had any blood in a while.”

Tommy whined but Adam put a finger to his lips.

“We’ll be quick.”

“We better be,” Tommy muttered, reaching out for Adam’s hand and pulling him to the kitchen. They waited impatiently for the packs to warm up, wishing they could carry on without the blood but knowing they couldn’t. Adam tapped his foot, the ache for Tommy in his body nearly at its breaking point.

“This is torture,” Tommy complained just as the microwave dinged to tell them the blood was ready. They both grabbed for one, trying to gulp it down as quickly as they could. Tommy patted his back with a smirk when Adam choked from swallowing too much at once and, when Tommy had taken one last pull from his straw, he leaned up and licked away the blood that had spilled from the side of Adam’s mouth. Adam felt his dick harden with the blood he had just drank.

“You’re beautiful,” Tommy said, trailing a hand up to Adam’s cheek and cupping it lightly.

“Not as beautiful as you.”

Tommy raised an eyebrow. “I beg to differ. You finished?” he asked, looking pointedly at the blood pack still in Adam’s hands. Adam nodded, throwing it away and taking hold of Tommy’s hand again. They giggled as they ran up the stairs, bumping into each other from going too fast.

Adam pushed the door to the bedroom open with his foot, too busy with Tommy’s mouth to look where he was going. They fell onto the bed together in a heap, tugging each other’s clothes off at the same time.

“Love you,” Tommy whispered as he ran his hands up Adam’s bare chest. Adam slid a hand down Tommy’s back, arousal rushing through him at the smooth skin that rested against his.

“Love you, too.”

Adam turned to roll them over, but Tommy pushed against his chest to stop him.

“Let me. I wanna take care of you,” Tommy said, sliding down Adam’s body until he reached his dick. Adam sucked his lip between his teeth when he wrapped a hand around him and started slowly moving it up and down, spreading the precome that had leaked from the head with his thumb.

“Fuck, Tommy,” Adam cursed, his hips jerking up into Tommy’s fist. Tommy’s lips quirked up and he poked his tongue out, giving tiny licks and nothing more. Adam’s hand found their way into Tommy’s hair and he tugged impatiently.

“What do you want?” Tommy asked, his voice low as he continued giving licks to Adam’s cock.

“You,” Adam answered, and when Tommy looked like he was waiting for more, he moaned out, “Your mouth.”

Tommy nodded, giving Adam’s dick one more stroke before he put his mouth on him, hollowing his cheeks and sucking him down. Adam wished he could look away so that he wouldn’t come so soon, but Tommy had kept his eyes locked on his and he couldn’t pull his eyes away. He reached down and touched the nape of Tommy’s neck, feeling him shiver at the touch. Finally, Tommy looked down and Adam was able to shut his eyes, the pleasure running through his body almost too much.

When he felt Tommy swallowing around him and taking him even deeper, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to last any longer.

“Close,” he warned, not entirely coherent from what Tommy’s mouth was doing to him. Tommy didn’t give any indication of stopping despite his warning. As Tommy’s hair brushed against his sensitive dick and his tongue ran across him, Adam’s hands gripped the sheets and he was coming. His whole body felt like it was on fire, and he blinked his eyes open to see Tommy licking him clean.

He smiled lazily, holding out an arm and sighing happily when Tommy came back up and rested his head down.

“I think that was the best blowjob I’ve ever received.”

Tommy giggled and winked. “Plenty more where that came from.”

Adam laughed. Tommy lifted up again until he was sitting and Adam remembered that Tommy hadn’t come yet. He reached out a hand.

“I can...”

“No, just watch. That will be enough,” Tommy interrupted.

So, Adam watched as Tommy touched himself, alternating between long teasing strokes and fast dirty ones. Adam could look at Tommy’s face properly now as he fell apart, his movements becoming disjointed until he was coming all over his hand. It felt like a private moment, one that Adam was lucky enough to see. He thanked the world once again for bringing Tommy into his life. He’d always get to see these parts of him, and he knew he’d never get enough.

After getting cleaned up, Adam pulled the bedcovers over them and spooned himself around Tommy, kissing his shoulder delicately. It wasn’t long before he heard Tommy’s breathing even out, but he couldn’t sleep. There was something in his brain that was telling him what he knew in his heart was the right thing to do.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, he crept out of bed and tiptoed out of the room until he reached the stairs and was sure Tommy wouldn’t hear him. He went down and straight into the kitchen, opening the cupboards and reaching for the boxes he had hidden up there. He got them down, turning them in his hands before going back upstairs and hiding the box with his ring in a drawer by his bed. He looked at Tommy’s uncertainly, trying to decide how to give it to him. He wanted it to be a surprise, but he really liked the thought of it being the first thing he saw when he woke up, so he placed it on the pillow beside Tommy’s head.

When his head hit the pillow for the second time, he could finally sleep, his heart feeling fuzzy and full.

 

Adam woke up to Tommy gently shaking him and he opened his eyes to see Tommy holding the open box in his hand, his eyes wide. Adam chuckled; he hadn’t really thought about this part, but he wanted it to come from the heart. He didn’t want it to be something he’d memorised weeks ago.

“What...is this what I think it is, Adam?” Tommy asked.

Adam sat up and shifted until he was face to face with Tommy. He moved the box aside, taking both of Tommy’s hands in his. “I want to be with you forever. I want to go through the highs and the lows with you, to be there for you, to love you every day.”

Tommy’s mouth didn’t seem to be able to close. “Oh my god.”

Adam ruffled Tommy’s hair, grinning at his not so powerful scowl, and continued. “I want us to be bonded.”

A smile spread across Tommy’s face, and Adam swore it lit up the whole room. He picked up the box, tilting his head at the ring inside it. He touched it tentatively. “Are these mountains?”

“Yeah. This will sound really cheesy, but I thought they symbolised the obstacles we’ve overcome together.”

Tommy shook his head slowly. “Not cheesy. Insanely romantic, yes, but not cheesy,” he said, letting out a little laugh, “How did I get so lucky to have you in my life? I have no idea why someone like you would want someone like me.”

“You’re perfect. I don’t see how I couldn’t want you,” he smiled, “Now, is that a yes?”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s a yes.”

Adam took the ring from the box, Tommy holding out his hand and letting him slide the ring on him. He couldn’t even begin to explain how it felt to see that ring on his finger. Adam scooped him up into his arms, holding onto him until Tommy knocked them over and they fell on their backs.

“Love you,” Tommy said, pressing kisses into Adam’s neck.

“Love you, too.”

They lay there kissing and cuddling, in their own happy bubble, before Adam got up and reached for the box in his drawer. He opened the box for Tommy and watched as he took the ring and carefully slid it onto Adam’s finger, kissing his knuckles and officially sealing the agreement.

“You’ve made me the happiest man in the world, Adam Lambert.”

Adam rested his head on Tommy’s shoulder, pushing his head into the fingers that stroked through his hair. “That’s pretty much impossible with how happy _I_ am right now.”

Tommy laughed, the sound happy and like music to Adam’s ears. As Adam laughed along with him, everything seemed to fit into place.

 

 


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter left! :D

 

                                                                              

Adam and Tommy hadn’t told anyone about their plans to get bonded yet. It was nice to just keep it to themselves for awhile, but eventually Adam told Tommy that he thought they should tell people. He was confused when Tommy frowned like he didn’t want Adam to tell anyone.

“What’s the matter? I thought you’d want to tell people, too.”

“I do. I just think there’s someone who should know before anyone else,” Tommy said.

“Who?”

Tommy paused, looking like he was trying to figure out how to put it into words. “Where’s Kris’ grave?”

Adam raised his eyebrows. He certainly wasn’t expecting that, but he answered anyway. “Where most vampires’ graves in this town are. It’s this secluded place where there’s a magical barrier around to keep humans from seeing it. Why?”

Tommy didn’t answer Adam’s question, just looked at him with interest in his eyes. “Did witches do the magic for the barrier?”

“Not exactly. It was done a long time ago when vampires didn’t trust humans at all. It was done by a vampire who was a witch before he was turned, so he still had the magic in his blood. Will you answer my question now?”

“I think it would be good for you to go and visit the grave. Kris deserves to know about us getting bonded before anyone else,” Tommy said.

Adam ran a hand through his hair. He’d never gone to Kris’ grave because of the potential hurt it could cause him, but he was in a better place now. He had Tommy beside him, and that made him feel stronger than ever. He nodded, making his decision. “Okay. That sounds good. Do you wanna come with me?”

“I don’t know...”

“I’d like for you to be there,” Adam told him.

“Okay. I’ll come. Do you wanna go now or some other time?”

Adam thought about it. Now that Tommy had brought it up, he felt a kind of determination to go to Kris’ grave. It felt like it was the last obstacle that he had to get over and now felt like the right time to do it. “I’d like to go now.”

Tommy nodded and went to get the keys whilst Adam waited at the door for him. Not only did he want to prove how much things had changed for him, he wanted to say goodbye to Kris, too.

 

Adam pulled up outside the vampire graveyard, shutting off the engine and opening the car door. He heard Tommy get the flowers they had bought out of the backseat and walk up to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Adam replied, and he was glad to know that he meant it.

He held out his hand for Tommy, smiling when he took it and they started walking through the graveyard together.

“It really is secluded, isn’t it?”

Adam nodded. “It has to be. Even with the magical barrier, not many vampires would be keen on humans walking over their loved ones graves.”

They lapsed into silence, Adam letting his eyes drift from one grave to another. He didn’t know exactly where Kris’ was, but he knew it would be one of the nearest to them since he didn’t die too long ago.

After a short walk, Adam spotted Kris’ name on one of the gravestones and came to a stop in front of it. Tommy looked around in confusion, and then understanding crept onto his face when he saw Kris’ grave.

Adam let himself look at the grave properly. He wasn’t really expecting it to be as clean as it was. It was shiny, like someone had polished it. He wondered who might have done that. Then he thought that it could have been many people. Kris had gotten along with almost everyone. He had been a good man, and he could see that people had visited his grave regularly judging by the flowers that lay surrounding it. He felt a trickle of guilt run through him when he thought of how other people had took the time to visit his grave and he hadn’t. He stopped himself from going in that direction immediately. It would have torn him apart if he had come here before. It only would have hurt him, and Kris wouldn’t want that if he was alive.

Taking his thoughts back to the well looked after grave, he wondered if his friends had ever come here. He hadn’t really considered that before, had never thought to ask, but now that he did think about it, he was sure that they had. They had gotten along with Kris, too, they’d want to say their own goodbyes. He felt a burst of appreciation that his friends had come here and made sure Kris’ grave wasn’t neglected when he couldn’t. It was nice to come here and see that his grave looked cared for.

He felt Tommy’s hand slip out of his and out of the corner of his eye saw him placing the flowers down gently. They were brighter than the others that lay there, and Adam thought that it gave it a little more life. Tommy straightened up and shoved his hands in his pockets, blowing away the hair that had fallen into his face.

“It looks like a lot of people cared about him,” he said softly, nodding towards the other flowers that were there.

“Yeah, they did,” Adam answered.

Tommy turned to him. “I’ll give you some time alone.”

Adam hugged him close for a second before letting go. “Thank you.”

He watched as Tommy walked away in the direction they had come. He pondered how he would feel if he was in Tommy’s shoes, wondered if he could be so understanding in that situation. He hoped that he would be, but he knew that it must be hard sometimes to let the insecurities go. He promised to himself that he would shower his love on Tommy every day so that he had no doubt in his mind that he was who he wanted and not a replacement for anyone else.

When Tommy could hardly be seen in the distance, Adam turned back to Kris’ grave. He moved closer, holding out his hand to touch the cool headstone.

“I’m sorry for not coming sooner. I wish I could have had the courage to, but I just didn’t. It would have hurt so much back then. It’s good that I’ve come now, in a way. I’m sure you wouldn’t have wanted to watch me crying and not being able to say anything. I want you to see me happy, and I am happy now.”

Adam knelt down, fingering the flowers Tommy had placed on the ground. He’d seen people do this in movies before, talk to someone’s grave as if they were there. He’d always thought it looked stupid, as if the grave was a substitute for someone who wasn’t there. But he could make sense of how it would make people feel better now. He didn’t want it to sound cliché, but it almost felt like Kris was listening to him. He hoped he was right because he wanted him to hear this.  He wanted to tell him how happy he was now after being so down when he’d lost him.

“See, I’ve met someone. It wasn’t the best of situations, but we found something in each other and we couldn’t let that get away. You’d love Tommy. He’s one of those people who you just can’t help but love. He’s made such a difference to my life and I couldn’t be happier with him.”

He felt a sort of reassurance in his heart that Kris wanted him to be happy with someone who was good for him. _They’d_ been good for each other, but it had never felt quite like what he’d found with Tommy. He wondered if it was Kris who instantly put a stop to the tiny bit of guilt for thinking that. He realised then that he didn’t have to feel guilty for what was the truth.

 Kris had been his first vampire love, but Tommy was his soul mate. Kris had been all for love and honesty, Adam was completely certain that he’d understand. So, he let himself think that again without any guilt whatsoever, and he felt a peace settle within himself.

“We’re getting bonded. He told me that he thought you should know before anyone else. That’s how sweet he is. And he was right. I’m glad I didn’t tell anyone else before you.”

He stroked a finger over the engraving that spelt Kris’ name before continuing. “You know, I’m so happy that I’ve come here today. It’s like...I can feel your presence here. That sounds pretty stupid and you’d probably be laughing at me right now, but it’s the only way to explain it.

“There used to be a gaping hole in my heart where you were ripped out of my life, and after time it lessened to an ache that I thought I’d live with my whole life. Lately, it hasn’t been aching and it’s been full of love. But it’s only now that I feel this peace alongside that. It’s like I’m fully at peace with your death when earlier I’d just gotten over it. It feels good.”

He smiled, standing up and stretching his legs out. He knew he’d been rambling and he’d forgotten to give Tommy the keys to the car, so he must have been standing out in the cold waiting for Adam. He didn’t want to leave him waiting any longer. He’d said all he needed to say, anyway.

“I’ll come back. I don’t know when, but I will. I’m not going to hide away from the evidence that you’re not here anymore,” he promised, turning around to walk away before pausing and looking  back at the grave, “Goodbye, Kris.”

As he walked back to where he’d parked the car, he was amazed at how saying those words didn’t hurt him. In fact, it felt good to say them. It wasn’t goodbye forever; he’d still visit the grave and talk to him. But it felt like a turning point, much like putting away the picture of Kris had.

He touched the ring on his finger lightly. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but he couldn’t forget it was there. It warmed his finger, just like how Tommy warmed his body and heart.

He saw his breath mist in the air, reminding him how cold it was. He walked faster to get to Tommy, smiling when he spotted him leaning on the car with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. When Tommy noticed him, he pushed off the car and walked forward to meet him. He hooked his arm through Adam’s as they walked to the side of the car and stopped.

“How did it feel?”

Adam stroked over the ring on Tommy’s finger, noticing with a smile that it seemed to emit the same warmth as his own. “Peaceful. It almost felt like he was listening.”

“I’m sure he was, wherever he is,” Tommy said, and Adam was so grateful that he understood.

“You’re amazing. Thank you.”

Tommy shook his head. “It was nothing. Now, let’s get out of the cold.”

Adam could have argued that it wasn’t nothing, that a lot of other people would have had trouble with his past with Kris and how it had ended. He didn’t, though, knowing how stubborn Tommy could be. But in his head, he thanked the universe for bringing someone who was this perfect for him into his life.

 

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone's happy wth the final chapter! Thank you for all the wonderful comments <333

**_Five months later_ **

 

 

**Adam’s POV**

“Adam, stop fidgeting. It’s driving me crazy.”

Adam glared in Marcus’ direction. “You’re not the one getting bonded today.”

“No, but I might as well be. It’s making me nervous just watching you.”

Adam turned back to the mirror in front of him, fiddling with his hair a little. “Does my hair look okay?”

Marcus sighed. “It will look fine as long as you stop messing with it.”

Adam huffed, fluffing the front up a bit more before leaving it alone. He glanced at the suit that was hanging on the door ready for him to put on.

“Why’s Carrie taking so long? I should just do my own makeup,” he complained.

“She’ll be here soon. Stop worrying. We’ve got plenty of time.”

Adam span around in his chair, facing Marcus. “Sorry. It’s just that I haven’t seen Tommy for two days now and it’s making me anxious.”

“I can understand that. It’s like you’re joined at the hip sometimes. I’m sure he’s feeling the same way,” Marcus said.

“Yeah, he probably is. It’s been so weird sleeping in bed without him. I miss being able to talk to him when I can’t sleep or cuddle him whenever I want.”

“You sound like such a softie,” Marcus laughed, putting a hand up when he saw Adam pout at him, “Hey, it’s not an insult. It’s nice to see you like that.”

Adam shrugged. “He brings it out in me.”

“Want me to get us some blood packs?”

“Yeah, okay. I guess I’ll need all the strength I can get in case I end up fainting.”

Adam heard Marcus laugh from the kitchen where he’d gone to heat up the packs. “I’m sure you won’t faint,” he called.

Adam chuckled to himself. He wasn’t so sure about that. This was going to be such a big day for them and the nerves plus missing Tommy so much were overwhelming. He caught himself in the mirror again, his hand reaching up to mess with his hair before he stopped himself.

Marcus came in with the blood packs then, and he took one, sighing as the warm liquid hit his tongue. Marcus put a hand on his arm.

“You don’t need to be so nervous,” he said.

“I know. I just don’t wanna ruin our special day by doing something wrong or saying something dorky.”

Marcus smiled. “You won’t. And even if you do, Tommy won’t mind. He might mock you about it for all eternity, but he wouldn’t mind.”

“He so would. You’re right, though. I don’t want my nerves to spoil today.”

“Everything will go perfectly, trust me,” Marcus reassured him, looking up over Adam’s shoulder and out of the window. “Carrie’s here. I’ll let her in.”

“Thanks.”

Adam watched Marcus leave the room, trying his best to relax.

“All ready for your big day?”

He looked around to see Carrie standing in the doorway, already in her dress. He gestured for her to come closer.

“You look beautiful.”

She did a little twirl for him, grinning. “Thank you. Now, let’s get you all prettied up,” she heaved a huge bag on the table in front of them. Adam’s eyes widened at the size of it.

“Umm, that’s a lot of makeup,” he pointed out.

“Well, I had to bring a bit of everything because I didn’t know what you wanted,” she said dumping the contents out on the table. Adam was about to complain about the mess when she shushed him.

“Marcus can clean it up when we’re done.”

“I heard that,” Marcus walked back in, sitting down on the couch.

Carrie laughed. “Sorry.”

Adam picked up a few of the pencils and shadows with pursed lips. “How on earth am I going to be able to choose between all of these?”

“We have plenty of time.”

Adam groaned. He didn’t really want to spend all of his time on the makeup. But he didn’t want to argue, either, so he listened as Carrie talked about which colours matched his skin tone with patience.

 

**Tommy’s POV**

 

“How can I apply your makeup while you’re fidgeting Tommy?”

He sighed. “Sorry. I just really wanna see Adam.”

“And you will. But first of all we’ve gotta get you ready,” Sharlene said, holding the brush high in the air to emphasise her point.

Tommy closed his eyes obediently as Sharlene swept the brush lightly over his face.

“You’re going to look hot as hell. No one will be able to take their eyes off you,” Sharlene said gleefully.

Tommy frowned. “But Adam’s gonna be there.”

“Honey, you’re just as hot as each other. Stop putting yourself down.”

Tommy stayed silent. The nerves didn’t look like they were going away any time soon. He hoped they’d go when he got to the bonding ceremony. He didn’t want to do anything idiotic and ruin their day.

He felt Sharlene run a finger over his eyelids, smudging the eye shadow she’d applied.

“Open,” she commanded, and he opened his eyes to see her holding up an eyeliner pencil. He tried to stay still while she lined his eyes with it and then brushed mascara on his lashes. She stood back to admire her work when she was done. He looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes looked bigger than usual and his lashes looked almost false. He stroked over his cheekbones, noticing that they seemed more defined.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Now, I’m gonna go and find your suit upstairs. Oh, and I need to get the flowers ready for the tables. Morissey’s coming by in a minute to pick them up. You won’t die of nerves down here by yourself?” she asked.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

She smiled at him and went upstairs, leaving him alone in front of the mirror.

He and Adam had been waiting for this day to come for months. But he hadn’t really thought about how hard it would be to spend two days apart from him. He knew it was the tradition of the bonding ceremony, but he kind of wished it would have been more like a human wedding and he’d only have to spend the night away from him.

He jumped and turned around when he heard a noise behind him. He saw Morissey shutting the front door behind him, his eyes going to Tommy.

“You look hot,” he said casually.

“Seriously, it’s the day I’m getting bonded. Do you ever let up?”

Morissey shrugged. “Nope. I know that at a human’s equivalent to a bonding, it’s not uncommon for the to-be’s to have one last fling.”

“I love Adam,” Tommy said firmly.

“Oh, well, it was worth a try.”

Tommy snorted, shaking his head at him.

“No, but seriously now, you and Adam look good together.”

Tommy’s eyebrows rose. He knew it was unlike Morissey to give Adam any kind of compliment. “Really?”

Morissey nodded seriously. “Yeah, I might not like Adam all of the time, but he’s not a bad guy. I can see you make him happy, and it looks like he makes you happy, too.”

“He does,” Tommy said, feeling his nerves start to calm down. This was Adam he was getting bonded to. He had no reason to be nervous. “You know, you’re not too bad when you’re not making innuendos about me and trying to rile Adam up.”

Morissey grinned. “It’s what I do best, why stop now?”

Tommy laughed. “Thanks. You’re the only one that’s actually managed to take away my nerves today.”

“My pleasure. I should go and help Sharlene,” he said, heading for the stairs and climbing up two steps before stopping. “If you did wanna take me up on my offer, you’re still free to, you know.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, reaching for the nearest cushion and throwing it at his head. Morissey dodged it and ran up the stairs, his laughter echoing from above.

 

**Adam’s POV**

Adam turned this way and that in the mirror, admiring the suit he had on. It was a silky, light grey that matched his made up eyes and hugged his waist.

Carrie had already left to help the others set up, but Marcus was still there. He stood at his shoulder, dressed in his own suit and smiling at Adam’s reflection in the mirror.

“You have no idea how proud I am right now,” he said, his voice slightly choked up. Adam turned to him and gave him a hug, patting his back before pulling away.

“You have two sons now.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m gonna have two times the trouble now,” Marcus joked.

Adam laughed. “You bet you are.”

“You two look after each other, okay?”

“Of course. But it isn’t like we’re leaving the country, Marcus. We’re getting bonded,” Adam said, excitement building in his veins as soon as he uttered those words.

“I know. I’m being stupid, aren’t I?”

“Is there any need for me to answer that question?”

Marcus rolled his eyes and Adam chuckled, knowing how rare it was for him to do that. He rubbed his hands together and glanced at the clock.

“Is it nearly time?”

“Yeah, we should probably get going now. Don’t want to be late,” Marcus said.

“Please don’t say that,” Adam groaned.

Marcus led the way out of the house, turning to the car and climbing inside. “We won’t be late.”

 

When they arrived at the venue they’d planned for the bonding ceremony, Adam gasped at its beauty. It had looked pretty damn good when they’d looked around months ago, but now it looked amazing.

They’d decided to have it outside since it was going to be an intimate ceremony and therefore not many people there. The gardens that Adam had to walk through to get to the large canopy in the middle were breathtaking, and he found himself pausing to breathe in the scent of the flowers. Marcus nudged him forward with a hand on his back at every one of his pauses and he continued walking.

The sun was shining brightly, but it was cooler once he got under the canopy because of the shade. Tables were set up around the outer edges of the canopy, leaving a wide space in the middle. He spotted the battery powered speakers in the corner and smiled at the bunches of flowers that covered every available surface. He couldn’t wait until Tommy got here and made it even more beautiful.

Anna, Morissey, Carrie and Rob were already there and they stepped towards him as a group when they saw him.

“Is this up to your standards, then?”Anna asked, waving an arm to the canopy.

“Of course it is. I can’t thank you enough for helping with this. Do you know when Tommy’s gonna be here?”

Rob laughed. “Impatient, are we?”

“Just a little.”

“He was just about to get his suit on when I left. He’ll be here any second now,” Morissey said.

Adam took a deep breath, and then turned his head when he heard some murmurs. He saw Sharlene walking towards him with Tommy, and his cheeks hurt from how widely he was grinning but he didn’t really care. He held out his hand when Tommy was close enough and he took it, pulling Adam to him.

“You look gorgeous,” Tommy murmured, bumping his nose against Adam’s affectionately.

“Not as gorgeous as you.”

Tommy opened his mouth to argue, but Adam put a finger to his lips and shook his head. Tommy smiled back at him and they walked together to the head of the canopy whilst the others sat down.

“I kind of love that it’s sunny today,” Tommy whispered to him.

“Why?”

“It feels like we’re mocking the stupid myths.”

Adam giggled. Only Tommy would think about that.

They came to a stop and stood across from each other, gazing into each other’s eyes happily. They stood there lost in each other until Marcus coughed quietly.

“Vows,” he prompted, and everyone laughed at Adam and Tommy’s bewildered looks. Adam felt his cheeks heat up a little and Tommy leaned in close to him, whispering, “So, you’re gonna be the blushing bride, huh?”

“Oh, shut up,” Adam said, pushing Tommy away playfully. Tommy smirked back at him and Adam cleared his throat to indicate that he was going to say his vows first. They’d written them themselves and, whilst some vampires cheated and said love poems, they both preferred it this way.

“Since you came into my life, the whole world seems like a brighter place. It’s like you’ve brought something out in me that I thought I’d lost and I can’t thank you enough for that. I can’t believe that I get to spend forever with someone as beautiful in both body and mind as you. I promise to love you in good times and bad, no matter the obstacles that stand in our way,” Adam finished, trailing his finger over the carved mountains on his ring.

He noticed Tommy staring at him with his lips apart, eyes alive with a light that Adam could only describe as happiness. He stroked a hand over Tommy’s neck, smiling at the reaction he had brought on. At Adam’s touch, Tommy collected himself and started to speak his own vows.

“When I met you, I had preconceived ideas about all sorts of things that I hadn’t fully thought through. You changed that, though, you helped me grow as a person and I’ll never forget that as long as I live. Every day you inspire me to be a better person. I want to laugh with you and cry with you, share everything with you. I promise to love you unconditionally, forever.”

Adam blinked back against the stinging in his eyes, his smile so wide that he was sure people would see it for miles.

He realised that Tommy had extended his arm for him, his own smile just as brilliant, and Adam took hold of it. He touched the faint scar from where he had been turned and then leaned down, pressing his lips against the soft skin of Tommy’s wrist. His fangs weren’t usually cooperative with coming out whenever he wanted them to, but with the combination of willpower and Tommy’s sweet blood, they descended, piercing the delicate skin.

He felt Tommy’s arm jerk up involuntary under his mouth as he sucked the blood out of it. While he closed his eyes in response to the taste of Tommy’s blood, he sensed Tommy lean in closer to him, hand holding the side of his neck and angling his own mouth at Adam’s vampire scar.

Adam muffled a moan at the pain and pleasure that rocked through him, every movement of Tommy’s head making it even better. Tommy’s fangs dug sharply into either side of the wound he had made.

Adam managed to wrench his mouth away from Tommy’s wrist so that he didn’t take too much of his blood, keeping some of it in his mouth. He felt Tommy’s fangs sink a little more into his skin before they slipped away, too.

As soon as they were both free, they crashed their lips together, feeding each other’s blood into their mouths. He felt the vibrations of Tommy’s low groan as he tasted his own blood mixed with Adam’s. It tasted sweet and tangy at the same time, hot and cold, soft and hard. As some of the blood went down his throat, Adam felt a dizzying sensation of empowerment, and when Tommy clutched at his shoulders he guessed that he was feeling the same thing.

He’d never given much thought about how this part of the bonding ceremony would go, hadn’t known it would feel this exhilarating as both his and Tommy’s powers combined in their bodies. All of his senses registered Tommy. The heat that radiated from him, the delicious taste on his tongue, that smell that he couldn’t describe but was all Tommy. He could almost imagine in his mind a piece of ribbon connecting them, binding them together.

Suddenly, he heard a rushing in his ears and the dizziness began to get too much, but he knew that they couldn’t stop until everything was back to normal. He tried not to fall over because of the nausea he felt, holding onto Tommy like he was a lifeline. Tommy’s nails dug into Adam’s arms where he held them, and Adam thought that was what brought him back down to earth, as it wasn’t too long after that that the giddiness stopped and the power he had felt lessened. They broke apart then, gasping for breath.

“Wow,” Tommy said, licking at his lips to wipe away all traces of the blood. His fangs had retracted again, and when Adam ran his tongue over his own fangs he felt them do the same. Adam lifted Tommy’s arm up and blew his breath over it, watching it close with satisfaction. He felt Tommy do the same to him, the hot breath on his neck making him shiver.

He’d been expecting it to feel different afterwards, somehow, like maybe he’d feel stronger with the two new powers he had or how the feel of his relationship with Tommy would change. The powers he had gotten from Tommy through the mixing of their blood hadn’t made him feel any different, though, and neither had the binding with Tommy through swallowing a part of each other.

He figured they were already so connected to each other that the binding hadn’t made much difference. He was glad for that. He hadn’t wanted anything to change between them; it was perfect enough and it couldn’t get any better than how it was. He wondered if maybe they hadn’t received each other’s powers, because although he could explain the binding easily, he was sure that having new powers that quickly would make him feel _something._

“I can feel...happiness. But...not just the happiness I’m feeling. It’s in the background somehow,” Tommy said, and Adam knew then that the power mixing must have worked, after all.

“Now you know what I have every day,” Adam replied, watching as their friends hurried up to them to give their congratulations.

“It isn’t too bad, actually. I’ll get used to it.”

Adam found himself being hugged from all sides, Sharlene patting his head and Rob patting his shoulder.

He saw Carrie go to the corner of the canopy and laughed when music started playing from the speakers. He was tempted to drag Tommy away from where Marcus and Anna were hugging him so they could dance, but he knew they’d have time in a minute and instead listened to Carrie, Rob and Sharlene chattering away about how happy they were for him.

Morissey stepped forward then, a smile on his face. “Congratulations,” he said, nodding to Tommy when he snuck away and fitted next to Adam’s side, “to both of you.”

Adam raised an eyebrow. Morissey was never this nice to him unless a joke came straight after it. He waited, surprised when one didn’t come and Morissey gave him a hug instead. He tried to move despite the shock, managing to hug him back before he pulled back, winked at Tommy and walked back over to Sharlene.

“What was that all about?” Adam asked, turning to Tommy, who didn’t look surprised but was looking back at him with a grin.

“He loves you really, you know.”

Adam snorted, taking Tommy’s hand and leading him to the huge space in the middle of the canopy. “I doubt that very much.”

Tommy hooked his arms around Adam’s neck, running his hands through the hair at the back of Adam’s head. “Trust me, he does. And you love him, too.”

Adam wrapped his arms around Tommy’s waist, pulling him close to his body. He sighed when he felt Tommy’s warmth against his torso. “That’s pushing it a little far. Okay, I _like_ him sometimes, but most of the time I hate him.”

“Love hate relationship,” Tommy teased in a singsong voice, earning him a gentle swat to the ass. They turned slowly, hardly able to look away from each other’s eyes.

“Today’s been incredible,” Tommy whispered, resting his head on Adam’s chest as they moved.

“Yeah, it has. I couldn’t have asked for it to be any better.”

He petted Tommy’s hair, laughing at the giggle he heard come from him.

“I’m so happy,” Adam said, hugging Tommy to his chest.

“Me, too.”

Adam caught sight of their friends taking to the floor, too. He watched while Marcus and Anna waltzed around, talking and laughing together. He smiled at the sight of their friends enjoying themselves. Everyone he loved was here, and it just made his heart feel even fuller. Tommy followed Adam’s gaze and he lifted his head up, resting his chin on Adam’s chest and looking up at him with big brown eyes filled with love. Adam saw himself reflected in them, expressing the very same feelings.

“Do you think there’s something going on between Marcus and Anna?” Tommy asked.

Adam looked back at them, at how joyous they seemed to be, then turned to Tommy again.

“I don’t know. But it would be nice for them to have someone the way we have each other.”

“Yeah, it would,” Tommy said, leaning up on his tiptoes and touching his forehead to Adam’s.

As Adam kissed Tommy deep and slow, he knew that there couldn’t be a better person to spend eternity with.

 

 


End file.
